Nino's Homecoming
by longherin
Summary: Shot side story/sequel/whatever you wanna call it to FE Bajillion. Following the events of Awakening Nino has to go home. This is more about what happens after she gets home than the process of going home, which is "Nino sits on a state of the art warship for a little over a month". Will last 4 chapters. Rated M for consistency with Bajillion.
1. Setting up Shop

{ === + === }

[4 years ago]

Nino and Jaffar, sitting in a tree, resting after trying to kill the Baby King Bee.

Following their foiled assassination attempt on Prince Zephiel, the two retreated along with Eliwood's group to their camp away from the Prince's mansion.

 _Following the "normal" timeline, they avoid offing Ursula (the stage boss) because their Mark is never as good as the Player._

Nino, a fourteen year old little girl, despite her rearing as an assassin, definitely doesn't have the constitution to stay awake throughout the entire night after fighting for her life. As such, she basically finds the closest unoccupied tent and collapse into unconsciousness.

"Looks like our latest recruit's all tuckered out." Lord Hector chuckles towards Nino's tent. "She did pretty good back there, didn't she?"

Nino fought a single Monk.

"She's a little girl." Lady Lyndis sighs. "And that assassin…"

"Ah…right." Hector's eyes darken. "Him."

"Play nice, Hector." Lord Eliwood consoles him. "If nothing else…"

"Yeah, yeah, he's playing on our side." Hector dismisses Eliwood's warning. "Doesn't mean I have to like him, though." He scoffs.

"I know." Eliwood claps his friend on the shoulder. "Just be willing to tolerate him. For that little girl's sake."

…

Urusla, with the remainder of her personal unit of Black Fang units, retreat from the Prince's mansion.

"Lady, should we leave the two of them alone?" One of her underlings asks her.

"The damn traitor angel and Sonja's bastard daughter." Ursula seethes. "They spit upon Lady Sonja's benevolence. You two." She gestures to her cavaliers.

"Yes, your ladyship." They salute.

"Ride fast to the Water Sanctuary." Ursula commands. "And deliver the message to our Lady Sonja that Jaffar, the Angel of Death, and Nino, her bitch of a daughter, have turned traitor."

"Yes!" They salute and remount. "At once!"

They turn their horse and make way down a side path. They go about twenty steps before a dark aura engulfs and kills them dead.

Ursula, hearing their cries of pain, instantly readies her Elfire.

Whatever magic she was about to attempt was then instantly distracted by a ludicrously powerful magical blast from somewhere north of the mansion.

"What in the hells?" Ursula snaps to attention at the blast of insane magical power.

The killer of the cavaliers takes notice of the blast of magic as well. "An incredible magical power." A golden-eyed woman by the name of Limstella, says tonelessly. "I will need to report back to master."

She emerges soundlessly from her cover behind a copse of trees and vanish into the night.

…

As for the Good Guys, they of course noticed a massive blast of magical power originating _literally inside their base._

The blast of magic shattered Nino's tent and torched what was left to the ground.

"What the hell?!" Hector yells in shock while Jaffar bolts forward into the burning remains. The Lord, catching himself, is then instantly on the Assassin's heels in their charge to pull the 14-year old girl from the fire.

But of course, the girl isn't there. As the healers treat Jaffar and Hector's burns, the rest of the party goes into analysis mode.

"I don't know how, or what…" Count Pent, the most senior and learned sage of the party, says after the remains of the fire is put out. "…but the magic that was Nino's has completely vanished."

Jaffar was unhappy with that answer. " _What do you mean, vanished?!_ " His growl carries his threat plainly for all to see.

Pent could care less. "I am not sure." He replies calmly. "But I have heard of a theory: occasionally, doors across reality have a chance to open at random, and when it happens, some unforeseen or unusual effects may occur in the general area."

"A 'door across reality'?" Eliwood ponders on this. "And one of these doors opened for little Nino?"

"Whether if it opened for her or if it was a coincidence is unknown." Pent replies with a shake of his head. "But the end result is still the same."

Jaffar is pissed. With neither the psychological training (read: normal people skills) or the mental stability to deal with his problems, he deigns to unleash his rage on the closest target, also known as Pent. Thus, he makes threatening moves towards Pent.

Pent's wife, Claire, nocks an arrow and aims it straight at Jaffar's heart. "Not a step closer." She warns him with vehemence.

Jaffar, surprisingly, does in fact stop.

Claire's tone softens. "I understand that you are enraged, but do not act in anger."

Jaffar goes "tch" and pulls back. Tellingly, he never drew his knife.

Pent was about to respond, before two blips on his senses drew his attention. "Hm?" He arms himself.

Seeing this, the rest of the party does the same.

To their immense surprise, two beings warp into their camp: the Venerable Archsage Athos, and the Designated Bad Guy Nergal.

"It appears that we had the same thought, old friend." Nergal says loftily upon seeing Athos facing him. "Though judging by your late entry, it would seem that the source of that magic was not from you."

"Indeed." Archsage Athos replies levelly. "I feared the worst."

"If it isn't the big man himself." Hector raises his axe. "Coming here so we can end your sorry life early?" He growls at Nergal.

"Don't kid yourself, brat of Ostia." Nergal could have cared less. "I'm here for the magic that's far beyond your comprehension." His gaze falls upon the burned tent. "Pah."

"Children of light, retreat from here." Athos warns the main group. "This situation has changed beyond expectations."

"Retreat?" Hector smirks. "I don't know the meaning of the-ow."

Lyndis bops him on the head. "Come on, Hector, no grandstanding."

Nevermind Nergal, the group could hear the footsteps of the approaching Bern garrison. Knowing that their options if found were less than pleasant, they, despite their reservations, retreat.

Athos and Nergal glare at each other for a little bit longer, then both simultaneously teleport away without another word, leaving the Mansion garrison to find just the burned out remains of a tent.

…

"Archsage, what was that tremendous magical power I felt?" Pent asks him as the group reconvenes the next day. "It was nothing like I've ever experienced before."

"This type of magic is new to me as well." Athos admits. "While I have heard of these types of magic before, this is the first case where such magical strength is so overtly displayed."

"What does this mean for Bern, Archsage?" Eliwood asks. "Lycia too."

"Shouldn't you be asking about Lycia first?" Hector verbally nudges him.

"I am unsure." Athos replies gravely. "This is an event that is far beyond my expectations...and by the looks of it, Nergal's as well."

"It's even against Nergal's expectations…" Eliwood mulls it over. "It was some kind of gate, right? Was it similar to the Dragon's Gate?"

"It could be." Athos nods slowly. "Certainly, the magic involved does seem similar. In any event, I advise caution."

"Caution…" Eliwood repeats softly.

With their chance to persuade the queen lost (read: right after the assassination) Eliwood's party was thus unable to quickly and easily progress to their intended target area.

Instead, they spent a week in Bern to covertly observe the situation.

To put it bluntly: things bode ill.

The spike of magical power split Bern's opinion in half. The Queen (without Louise to talk her down) trumpeted the spike as the result of Zephiel's divine guidance and decree to rule, with the King's faction being less than amused at the propaganda.

The queen then doubled down on the claim and declared that the cause of Zephiel's magical reaction was in defense to an attempted assassination. Though she pointedly avoided saying _who,_ most people had a reasonable guess since the bad blood between the Queen and the King were easy to see (again, the Queen's fault).

So, by the time the week is up, the queen and king factions among Bern were starting to break out into small conflicts among the streets.

To put the nail in the proverbial coffin, the leadership of the allied party—Lord Eliwood of Pherae, Lord Hector of Ostia, and Lady Lyndis of Caelin—received near simultaneous reports in unrest within their holdings due to that spike of magical power. Something about the 'end of mankind' or other tripe.

Though nobody in Lycia knew why, the sudden spike of unrest is actually due to Nergal's influence. While he was responsible for manipulating two of Lycia's lords, he also had scattered his spies and manipulators like the wind into the country, and they all collectively gained the ears of a not insignificant amount of people unhappy with their leadership for some reason or other (for example, a small but vocal minority in Pharae, Eliwood's holding, dislike how he's the head of state and yet isn't doing his job). The spike of magic power convinced them that it was Nergal's doing and that he would support their bid for their agenda, and thus accelerated their plans. Nergal's henchmen asking him or his subordinate Ephidel received no response, so they're adopting a wait-and-see tactic.

Plus Lord Uther, Hector's brother, took ill. It's a coincidence, but at the moment literally nobody believes that.

 _This last message would have been intercepted by Oswin, Hector's loyal knight and retainer, but the circumstances changed pretty hard._

And just in case the nail wasn't hammered in deep enough, Athos informed the group that, in light of current circumstance (read: sudden burst of absurd magical power) Nergal has withdrawn to his base in the Dread Isle and has fortified his defenses, and all actions on the continent seemed to have stagnated.

"That's convenient." Hector had commented.

Thus, with no leads and no way to proceed further into Bern without coming into conflict with the now riled up Bern army, the three lords retreated back to Lycia to govern their own nations for the time being.

…

[4 Years Later, Aka Present Day]

…

The White Wolf, Lloyd Reed, lies barely sleeping in a small village in Bern.

For the past four years, he's been spending his spare time to search for his little sister across the entirety of the continent. Between his job as a Black Fang and the incessant travel, he was certainly quite short on sleep. Of course, the current political climate didn't help much.

The Black Fang was being tasked with making sure that dissenting elements within Bern were being eliminated to stave off a costly and painful civil war.

Or at least that's the line they were fed. Lloyd agreed and went with it, but he, like his father, knew that the situation was not that tenuous. Yes, Bern was having a bit of a succession dispute, but no, it was definitely not devolving into open warfare.

That said, actions between feuding lords and factional generals meant that Bern was now in a weakened state. Increased taxes in preparation for a "civil-war" both drew in money for the aristocracy and the expected ire of the people paying said taxes, causing an increase in banditry.

Lloyd frowns at being told to leave the bandits alone. It goes against his belief as a Black Fang to leave the commoners to fend for themselves, but he had his orders…and more importantly, he's already going against the command of his father by continuing this search for much longer than the year he was previously allotted.

"Yo." Linus Reed greets him from the doorway of his room. "You up?"

Lloyd gives his brother a wane smile. "Yes, I am. How do you feel today?"

Linus leans on his crutch. "Ain't nothing I can't handle." He grins.

At seeing his younger brother's crutch, Lloyd blood boils. _That damn witch._ He curses in his head.

Linus got his ass kicked by the Eliwood party during a part of their journey into Bern, and was subsequently attacked (more) by an unusual sage by the name of Limstella…though Lloyd wasn't aware of her name. As far as he knew, Linus was attacked by some lady with bright, yellow eyes and flowing black hair.

Lloyd knew exactly one person in his life that matched that description, and he, despite his own understanding to the contrary, could not factor out the possibility that his own mother was the orchestrator of the attack.

Either way, Linus the Mad Dog was attacked by a black-haired lady and left for dead, leaving Lloyd to find his brother slowly bleeding out in the proverbial ditches. By a great stroke of fortune, Nino had given him a small vial of Vulnerary prior to Linus's fight with Eliwood, and the vial had cracked in his fight with Limstella, allowing Linus to remain barely alive thanks to the dripping medicine, saving him just enough for Lloyd to get to him.

The town would then be woken up by Lloyd screaming at the top of his lungs for a healer. After copious uses of Recover and Restore staves, Linus was stable, though far from recovered. After another two years of rehabilitation, he regained the ability to walk (barely), which was the closest thing to a full recovery the healing staves could manage.

 _In game terms, basically all of his stats are quartered._

The Mad Dog has fallen far, though his optimistic personality hasn't changed any.

"Hey, brother. Are you listening?" Linus's voice pierces through Lloyd's internal conflicts.

"Ah, apologies." Lloyd wasn't listening. "What were you talking about?"

"You and your worries, brother." Linus laughs. "I was talking about the Mouth."

Lloyd wasn't too interested. "What about it?"

"Well, word around the street is that the port's seen some pretty interesting business as of late." Linus grins. "Something about a ship from beyond the oceans."

Lloyd was now rather interested...and worried. "Oh really?"

"It's not from beyond the isles, if that's what you're wondering." Linus's grin grows wider. "Apparently it's entirely metal."

Lloyd wasn't quite sure what to make of that info.

"It's worth looking into." He says after some consideration. "Maybe that ship will have some information on Nino."

Linus nods vigorously. "Yeah, and since we felt that weird magical thing last year, there's a good sign Nino's on some other continent we've never been to."

Lloyd could see his brother's quivering excitement. "Be sure to behave yourself." He says with a sigh.

 _Besides Nino…_ Lloyd glances at his brother's cane. _We might find someone who can treat him, too._

…

A large river runs from the heart of Bern to the coastline. It flows north, then turns east and empties into the ocean, widening into what is basically the beating heart of Bern's trade. This eastern facing section of the river also acts as the border between Bern and Sacae, and various towns and villages dot the two shorelines to take advantage of the fishing and easy transportation.

Naturally, the two largest cities are the ones at the mouth of the river. Colloquially referred to as the "Mouth" by the residents of Bern and Sacae alike, these two cities held the enviable position of being the crossroads of the eastern coast, and the trade that follows such incredible traffic made the two cities, as its citizens might say if they had the lexicon, "fucking bullshit rich".

Between the fishing, the shipping, and the intercity ferries, the waterway between the two cities is also one of the busiest, beaten out by maybe Lycia's port of Badon which services the bulk of Lycia's population.

Fun fact about busy ports designed to service huge amounts of boats: they're pretty easy to attack by other guys who have boats.

Thus, as Lloyd and Linus's hired cart approached the Mouth on Bern's side, they noted the worrying plume of smoke slowly rising into the air.

"Is that metal ship an enemy?" Lloyd asks conversationally.

"I already told you I made that up." Linus mumbles. "What's going on? Driver, do you know?"

"I heard that the Mouth's attracting a lot of attention from those 'Jugdral' folk." The Driver replies lazily. "Damn shame if you ask me."

"Where's you sense of pride?" Linus demands. "Bern's being attacked by an enemy!"

"My pride went with my taxes." The Driver's reply was as steady as before. "Ain't much of a surprise."

Linus shakes his head…and shares a knowing glance with his brother. The two had decided to adopt a slightly patriotic tone to go with their curiosity in case any nobles they had crossed before happened to be at the Mouth. Bern's sense of national unity has always been high, so this newfound lack of respect for authority was worrying to them, if only because it made defense against these new recent intruders more difficult.

Jugdral was a continent discovered very recently in the form of marauding fleets of warships that supposedly hailed from the location. While no one on Elibe has laid eyes on it yet, most nobles, after tussling with the Jugdral ships, are convinced that the place can mean nothing good.

 _Still, if Jugdral ships have sailed from the isles down to here, then we have a problem._ Lloyd muses. He knew that the most common access point between Jugdral and Elibe were the isles of Kafti and Caledonia, on the western edge of their map. Without knowing how much further Jugdral was, he couldn't estimate how long their supply line was or how effective their attacks would be, but he was impressed by their tenacity to sail around the entirety of the continent to strike at Bern.

As Lloyd would learn later, the idea that Jugdral was "beyond the isles" was a misnomer, in the sense that the first Jugdral ship sighted sailing around the isles only got there because the nation of Ilia was absolutely atrocious at patrolling its frosty coastline, relying more on the ice and cold rather than patrols and interdiction. Jugdral was, in actuality, east of Elibe, making Bern basically the first point of contact.

Either way, as the two of them crested a hill, they were able to see the Mouth of Bern in all its glory.

To put it lightly: it ain't pretty.

Jugdral ships were sturdy, fast, and built for the sake of warfare.

The Mouth ships were…uh, not.

The river was choked with burning ships, to the point where it seemed that the entire waterway was on fire. Lloyd couldn't see any fighting going on due to the distance and the burning, but he figured that if there was fighting going on, Bern was likely not on the winning end.

In the sky, he could see Bern's famed Wyvern Knights joining into the mix. Sadly, they're not too good at fighting in areas without Bern's famed mountains that usually hid the famed Knights, and so their performance was at best lackluster.

Fortunately, since the Jugdral ships were primarily warships or raiders, the cities themselves were spared…except for the parts that were on fire because things just randomly catch on fire in situations like this.

"Let's go take a look, brother." Lloyd says.

"Yeah." Linus sets some quivers by his side. "Driver, go for it."

…

The two of them enter the Mouth of Bern and help putting out some fires. That's about it.

Linus's reaction to all this was a simple "boring."

Since it's a naval battle and the two have no naval combat experience, they spend the rest of the day watching the battle from the city's ramparts.

…

"What do you think, brother?" Linus asks as the Jugdral ships escape north along the Sacaean coast.

"They'll be back." Lloyd sighs.

Lloyd's assessment is based on the fact that, after this day of combat, what was left of the two city's navy were either all sunk or were in too bad of a shape to continue battle. While he wasn't sure what the Jugdral ships were up to, he knew that giving them uncontested access upriver would result in nothing good. The Mouth of Bern and Sacae had strong walls and a tough garrison, but the same is definitely not true for the towns deeper in.

 _At least they're not going to mount a ground attack._ Lloyd reassures himself. _So we can avoid a true siege._

Bern's wyvern knights and Sacaean horse archers have a tendency to shut down sieges before they begin. While the ships from Jugdral may not have known this, they should, he reasons, be aware of the difference in manpower.

Thus, the two retires to an inn to discuss their next course of action. Now that they were here and there was a battle to be had, they couldn't just leave.

…

The next day brought a surprise.

 _We all know what this is…kinda._

Lloyd found Linus already perched on the city walls. He was tapping the stonework with his cane and looking outwards with a pensive and confused expression.

"Brother?" Lloyd asks.

"What do you reckon they're doing?" Linus gestures towards the ocean with his cane. "They're all facing the wrong way."

Lloyd went up to look. As Linus said, the Jugdral ships were facing outwards against something too far for him to see.

"So a third party has arrived." Lloyd muses. "Who's riding to our rescue? Lycia?"

"It doesn't look like it." A guard standing beside them replies nervously. "What is that thing?" He adds.

Lloyd notes that the man has a spyglass to his eye and was staring intently at some spot on the horizon.

"It looks like a ship, but its silhouette is all wrong." The guard continues to say. "It's still quite far off, but…"

"It's a single ship?" Lloyd notes with worry.

"Looks like it." The guard nods.

Given their lack of options, they opt to continue observing the situation. As they watch, the Jugdral fleet of roughly twenty ships or so suddenly hoist sails and retreat along the coastline again.

"I saw some Pegasus knights, so I guess they had some kind of agreement." The guard explains when Linus asked for clarification. "Even if it's a third party, it's a third party that's made an agreement with Jugdral." The man grits his teeth. "It can mean nothing good for us." He moves to report to his immediate superior.

Without any better options, the two cities sent out all of their two combat-capable ships (one ballistae each) to form a possible last minute defense against the incoming ship.

Said incoming ship was, comparatively speaking, huge.

"Let's get over there." Linus says suddenly and hobble to his feet.

Like before, a Pegasus knight was sent from the mysterious ship, who, after some parleying with a Wyvern Knight sent from the Bern side of the Mouth, convinced the towns that, no, they were not out to bring the apocalypse onto the ports. While the Mouth had their reservations, this _was_ a ship that decided to talk rather than shoot first, so they erred on the side of friendliness to prevent making more enemies.

Thus, the ship was allowed to dock on the Sacaean side, as an additional precaution against an actual possible land intrusion.

The Reed brothers, now curious, take a now very busy ferry across the river.

When they round the corner to the deep-sea docks, they could see that the hull of the ship was entirely metal. The ship also took up the entirety of the deep-sea docks with its length, making it—Lloyd estimates—about 150 meters long. He also estimates, based on his current position and the highest point of the ship, that it's at most 10 meters high, not counting whatever may be underwater.

 _I've never seen a ship with the raised structure placed squarely in the middle._ Lloyd muses, not exactly having a word to describe the design in front of him.

"I was joking." Linus mutters. "I could've sworn I was joking."

The two of them see the letters "CPA-CA-01" emblazoned on the side of the hull, and briefly wondered what it meant.

"Look at that." Linus, like many other people, point to the trio of small pipe-like things attached to boxes mounted on the front of the ship. "What type of weapons do you think those are?" He asks excitedly.

Lloyd could see at that two of the larger pipe-things were actually an installation of multiple pipes tied together. "Your guess is as good as mine, brother."

Unable to see anything else of immediate interest (or understanding), the two watch as the ship drop anchor and extend a gangplank from the fore and aft of the ship's hull.

"Would water rush in like that?" Linus wonders upon seeing the two openings.

"Not if they trust their design enough to make those entrances in the first place." Lloyd notes. "Look, they're descending."

…

The brothers, like everybody else, were at first surprised by the newcomers.

The reason? The first three to descend the gangplank were very much so children. Said children would have kicked ass and took names if they heard themselves being described as such, since they were already 16 years old, but that's neither here nor there.

Lloyd could see that the girls were clad in some kind of armored dyed pure white, wearing gear that seemed to be shattered in various ways. Before he could get any further in his interpretation…

The lead girl stretch, sighs contently, and exclaim in a clear, crisp voice. "Finally! Land at last!" Lloyd notes that she had long, purple hair and had about her an air of immaturity wrapped around an incredible ego.

"We could have disembarked at Jugdral." The second girl notes. "But the captain chose not to." She had white hair and was surrounded by a sense of quiet dignity.

"Good decision too." The third girl nods in agreement. "Jugdral gave me the creeps." Her hair was chestnut brown, and Lloyd got the feeling that she was probably a Good Girl™.

"Welcome to the Mouth of Sacae, strangers." A guard captain announces clearly while a ring of militia circled the docks. "What brings you here?"

"Business!" Purple hair announces cheerily. "We're from a long ways away and we could stand to spend a little coin." She unhooks a small square leather box (a kinda-wallet) from her waist and tosses it at the captain.

 _The captain gives the wallet a test toss and his eyes widen slightly._

"Also, please deliver a message that our captain would like to meet with your mayor. It is a matter of grave urgency." White hair adds politely.

"This doesn't appear to be a trading ship." The guard captain notes.

"She isn't." Brown hair nods. "The trading ship is waiting at a safe distance. You won't regret letting it through, promise!" She smiles sweetly.

 _She's like Nino._ Lloyd blinks rapidly at the realization.

"Very well, I will, erm…" the captain wasn't too familiar with foreign dignitary protocol, since the only foreign folk he ever received were basically neighbors from across the river. "Please follow me." He leads the girls away and to the mayor's villa.

As the girls leave, Lloyd notes that the gangplanks were quickly retracted…but he saw no one doing the work.

…

[At the Mayor's Villa]

…

The three girls are led into a well decorated room, where the mayor sat behind a rather imposing looking table. Flanking him are two guards, and all look rather polite, if surprised at this sudden request for a very formal meeting from children.

"As the mayor of the Mouth of Sacae, I welcome you to our fair city." The mayor says as an introduction. "I'm afraid our current position leaves us with little time for pleasantries, so forgive us for our sparse courtesy."

"Not at all." Brown hair bows politely. "I thank you for receiving us on short notice."

To be honest, the mayor didn't consider these girls to be worth his time, as he had a naval battle that was a bigger and more immediate problem for him. "To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" He asks politely, but a bit mechanically.

The three girls introduce themselves in turn.

"I am Akatsuki." Purple hair says first, puffing her chest our proudly. "Stars One."

"Hibiki, Stars number two." White hair nods hello.

"Inazuma, Stars four." Brown hair was by far the most professional of the batch.

"Stars?" The mayor muses. He's never heard of the term used in a non-astrological fashion. "If I may ask, what is this 'Stars'?"

"The Stars unit is the team of strongest battle mages within the Phoenix Company." Akatsuki replies, her inflating ego threatening to lift her off her feet. "Each one of us is as good as an army, so don't look down on us just because we're young."

They're about sixteen years old and look a touch younger. Understandably, the mayor barely resisted rolling his eyes. The guards too were smirking under their masks.

"It was too much to ask you to be professional, wasn't it?" Inazuma sighs. "Anyways, mister mayor, we're here to negotiate for the ability to establish a permanent presence on these shores."

 _Permanent presence?_ The mayor frowns, but changes gears first. "My guards have told me that you negotiated with the attackers of my city."

"Yes." Inazuma replies. "We convinced them to retreat for the day."

"It's totally a trap though." Akatsuki laughs. "They're gonna be back _so_ fast."

"A trap?" The mayor was confused by Akatsuki's sudden tone shift.

"They're hoping to trap us within the docks." Hibiki says simply. "Shame."

The girls' total lack of tension in addressing this trap worried the mayor.

"The two of you have quite the faith in your ship." He says. "Solo as it may be."

"Our ship's the first prototype heavy cruiser, after all." Akatsuki smirks. "It takes way more than just some flimsy fleet to make us care."

"That 'flimsy fleet' has sunk all of our ships." The mayor says with a raised eyebrow. "I hesitate to think your one ship would make that much of a difference."

"You would." The three girls say (and sigh) in unison. "Our warship will prove itself in time." Inazuma adds. "So allay your fears; we're here to talk about business."

"And so we are." The mayor isn't convinced, but is at least intrigued by their utter dismissal of what he saw as one of the biggest threats to the Mouth since some time.

…

[Back at the Docks]

…

Lloyd and Linus continue to watch the ship. While the three girls were out negotiating, more and more city folk have gathered to marvel at this monstrosity of a ship sitting in their docks. They couldn't get close due to the militia guarding the ship…but the militia themselves were more interested than worried, so the cordon was pretty lacking.

"Dad!" One small child says while jumping around excitedly. "It's a huge metal ship!"

"That it is, son." The dad replies while controlling himself from jumping around excitedly. "That it is."

 _Boys will be boys, we love our toys._

He listens in to some more banter between curious onlookers and then loses himself in his own thoughts, namely, thoughts about how effective this ship will be at sailing the high seas.

He briefly drifted off into fantasy about seeing strange new lands, and stayed with a slight smile on his face until the sound of the town bell brought him back to the present. The whistling of a flare into the air alerted him of what he had suspected.

With the warning of an attack in the air, the townspeople hurriedly shuffled themselves to any tall vantage points they could find, as long as it gave them a view of the ocean. With the presence of this awesome-looking new ship, what little fear they had against a possible ground attack was long gone.

The array of wall-mounted ballistae around the city probably helped on that too.

"So it's going to get busy here." Linus grins. "Finally."

Then, to everyone's surprise, the ship hums to life with a noise that nobody was used to. On the front and back side of the ships, two sets of boxes with long sticks sticking out of them rotated to point towards the general direction of the Jugdral ships.

 _Oh, they're weapons?_ Lloyd realizes.

The sticks then separate into four slightly thinner sticks, and then begin to glow with crackling electricity.

"Are those ballistae of some kind?" Linus wonders.

"Don't matter if they are." A guard nearby laughs. "The Jugdral ships are so far out there's no way they'd hit." The ships in question were mere dots on the horizon, which is also why nobody was worried…and why their two combat ships were still being prepped for battle.

As the townspeople continued to watch, a Pegasus Knight deploys from the metal ship. She takes to the air trailing two streaks of green particles. Lloyd, having some training in reading magical arts, could tell that the particles were magical in some way…but couldn't discern more beyond that.

The Pegasus Knight, after climbing and levelling, turns toward the incoming Jugdral ships. She then shoots forward at a pace much faster than Pegasus Knight should be allowed to take, the green particles radiating behind her.

…

And now they wait, which is always a bit of a bonerkill. Lloyd notes that the Pegasus Knight sent from the metal ship has apparently vanished from sight.

"This is why I dislike formal warfare." Linus huffs. "Too much waiting."

With the time that has passed, the Jugdral ships have grown from small dots to ship-shaped dots with visible sail shapes. They were still far from ballistae range, but people were now beginning to worry about the possibility of a naval-based bombardment attack. Though their wall-mounted ballistae are easy to replace despite damage, fire is still a big deal.

Lloyd notes a small, important looking entourage climbing up to the walls along with those three girls from the ship.

"So this is your ship." The mayor of the town appraises. "It's very…strange. How does it move?"

"Trade secret, can't tell ya." Akatsuki grins. "Just know that it's the best ship you'll ever see, ok?"

The mayor wasn't convinced. "Right." He says slowly. "So…about those Jugdral ships out there."

Hibiki smiles slightly. "We're getting around to it." She promises.

"Well, you better get around to it a little faster or you're ship is going to be in trouble." The mayor huffs. "I don't know if you realized, but of all the things floating in the water, yours is the biggest target around."

"Oh, we know." Akatsuki grins, and then taps something hidden behind her ear. "Dawn to Peter, we're here, you can go ahead and take us all on a trip now."

Understandably, the mayor was confused as all hell and certainly did not hear the response from this 'Peter' person.

However, he did see the strange stick-like things on the ship begin to rotate.

As the sticks slowly turned like a lethargic windmill, everyone watching jumped as a plume of blue fire erupted from the tube accompanied by an ear-deafening roar. Everyone including the girls.

"Scares me every time I see it." Inazuma mumbles.

The mayor, like most people, still had no idea what just happened beyond the ship apparently catching on fire somehow.

The soldiery understood that they were looking at some kind of weapon, and their eyes darted between the four tubes belching strange fire and the Jugdral ships in the distance.

Soon enough, they saw what they were looking for.

The Jugdral ships were suddenly and inexplicably surrounded by a forest of unending water plumes. This strange phenomenon lasted for the better part of two minutes. After the water subsided, the soldiers noticed only woodchips where the ships used to be.

"That was a little excessive, don't you think?" Akatsuki sighs to herself before tapping her ear again. "Good shots, Peter." She reports.

The mayor watches, politely dumbstruck, as the sticks stop rotating and close back into the bigger stick they started as.

They then watched in slightly less dumbstruck silence as the Pegasus Knight trailing green particles returned to the ship.

…

With that little display of overwhelming firepower, the mayor was suddenly very agreeable in allowing the trade ship to dock, despite never having seen it.

As the trading ship appeared on the horizon, the mayor noted that it was certainly as large as the biggest ship his city was used to dealing with, and felt briefly crestfallen. A few seconds later, he realized that the ship was in fact still growing…and it didn't seem to be stopping.

When the ship actually came into port and began to slow, it was nothing short of colossal. The previously sizable battleship already docked was dwarfed next to the gigantic steel monstrosity besides it.

 _And all this is just for trade._ Lloyd muses with a raised eyebrow. _Seems unlikely._

"No sails on this guy either." A noble (let's call him Noble A) mutters. "However they're moving, it's definitely under the water."

"I would have never guessed." Noble B says sarcastically. "Maybe you'll point out that the ship is made of iron next."

Noble B missed the second part of the sarcasm. "I would say its steel." He says seriously. "But obviously, I can't fathom the resources required to make this ship in the first place."

"One wonders why." Noble A quips.

The ship stops a fair distance from the docks and drops a pair of massive anchors.

"It's rather far from the dock." Noble A observes. "It's sitting pretty low, I suppose?"

"A ship that size? I would imagine so." Noble B agrees.

The city's docks are deep enough to service the biggest ships Elibe has to offer, but Elibe's largest ships are pretty small compared to the steel warship, much less this floating steel cube.

Thus, this trading ship has dropped anchor at a good fifty feet distance from dry land.

"So…how are they going to get ashore?" The mayor wonders. "Should we get rafts?"

They didn't need to get rafts. The front of the giant steel tub opens to reveal collection of mechanisms and one very sizable-looking steel plate held upright. As the onlookers pondered on the strange mechanisms held above the plate, the plate itself gave a loud groan and began to descend.

When the plate stopped, it lay parallel to the docks and extended a pathetic fifteen feet, dangling rather uselessly in the air.

"So…" Noble A says slowly. "How was it moving like that?" He didn't see any chains or whatever.

The plate then gave a rather odd hiss, and began to grow longer.

Lloyd, Linus, and many other keen onlookers noticed that the underbelly of the plate had a slight tinge of green as it extended to the full fifty feet length with a little extra. Then, with a dull thud, the plate's head drops and latches onto the dock, becoming a lengthy ramp wide enough to fit four cars side by side.

Everyone then noticed a group of rather important looking individuals exit the gaping maw that was previously covered by the plate.

"About time they got here." Akatsuki sighs. "I was getting tired of waiting." She says with a local fruit in hand.

Lloyd has an idle thought. _Did she pay for that?_ He then blinks. _How could she have the gold to pay for it if they just got here?_

While he ponders on the possibility that the little girl is in fact a little thief, a party of about a dozen important-looking people descends from the ramp.

Seeing the visual cues of the three girls saluting the party, the mayor readies himself to receive these likely very important people.

One of the lead people, a young lady with short, bright green hair, descends the ramp, returns the salute from the three girls (and eyes the fruit with a raised brow), and moves to begin to engage with the mayor about important things.

Then she sees Lloyd and freezes.

Lloyd was then pulled out of his reverie by said green-haired girl running at him at a full pelt with a happy squeal. He was then forcefully pushed into a nearby pile of flour bags by the girl, who seemed to be trying her level best to crush his ribs into smithereens.

"Uh." Was Linus's only reaction before the girl (who is Nino) broke into excitedly happy babbling.

"Well, this has gone off on an odd foot." A man with rather disheveled black hair sighs. "Ok, while she's doing that…" He turns to face the Mayor, who had the graces to stop look staring at the girl and turn his attention to the contextually more professional man before him. "Hello, I believe our Stars have told you the reason for our intrusion."

"That they have." The mayor bows. "I humbly welcome you to our fine city, and give you our thanks for assisting with our defensive effort."

"Think nothing of it." The man waves him off. "It is in our interest to establish safe lanes for the ships of our partners."

 _Aren't you the sly one._ The mayor inwardly rolls his eyes. "I thank you for your generosity." He says instead. "Now then…with whom am I discussing the fine art of business?"

The man grins. "I am Ash, the leader of this operation." His smile then turns a little wry. "And that over there is Nino, the leader of the fleet."

Now that the initial shock is wearing off, Linus and Lloyd are both joining in Nino's excited babbling—though it's mostly between Nino and Linus.

…

[Some Hours Later]

…

With the initial maniacal jubilance mellowing into mere euphoria, Nino, accompanied by Lloyd and Linus, bounce into the mayor's house with a beaming smile that could have actual Wattage.

"Looks like you're having fun." Ash can't help but grin at Nino's mood.

"Mhm!" Nino nods enthusiastically. "Sorry I wasn't here for the initial meeting." She adds. "I uh…"

"Hey, I don't mind the slightest." Ash waves off her apology.

"I take it you're responsible for escorting our beloved sister home." Lloyd says formally with a deep bow to Ash (Linus mimics the best he can). "I cannot put into words how much this reunion has been desired."

"I…don't mind the slightest?" Ash's grin goes a little confused. "It was a promise to Nino that I would get her home. We're a touch late, things happened…but she's home."

"Things…happened." Lloyd repeats, sensing some kind of backstory. "What happened?"

"Oh, nothing much." Ash waves it off airily. "Just a minor case of the apocalypse." He gives the two of them an appraising eye as Lloyd blinks in confusion. "So I take it you're the White and Mad wolves."

"That's the 'Mad Dog', thank you very much." Linus mutters. The two brothers were otherwise not all that surprised until Nino spoke up.

"How did you know about their titles?" Nino asks inquiringly. "I never told you."

"It's been a few years and a few wars." Ash evades the question. "In any event, it's a pleasure to meet the heroes of the Black Fang."

Nino was now very sure she never told him anything about being a Black Fang, as being a part of an assassination organization meant that some discretion should be exercised. It's also been a few years, so her memory's a touch hazy. "As expected of the boss, I guess." She sighs.

"Boss?" Lloyd frowns.

"Ah, yeah." Nino nods. "Ash is the…erm." She stops short. "You know we're the Phoenix trading company, right?"

Lloyd did not know. "I do now."

"Ok!" Nino smiles. "Well, Ash is the head of the company."

"Technically speaking," Hibiki, walking by, snipes the conversation. "He's the Emperor."

"Yes, but it's too hard to take seriously." Nino says blithely. Lloyd is compelled to agree. He then makes eye contact with Ash, who was quite a few steps away.

Lloyd then realizes that he had suddenly drawn his blade by reflex.

"I…I'm sorry." Lloyd apologizes and sheathes. "I don't know what's come over me."

"Hey man, no worries." Ash replies with a grin. Lloyd notices for the first time an overwhelming aura behind him that was nothing short of incomprehensible, and that aura made his grin utterly terrifying.

Lloyd, making the logical (if wrong) leap that Nino may not be in the safest of spots, decided to play it safe. "I would like to formally apologize, your Highness, for any transgressions I may have caused in my haste."

"Like I said, no worries." Ash says cheerily, that aura behind him utterly gone. "That reaction of yours is pretty normal for me."

Linus was a lot less about subtlety. "Are you keeping our sister hostage?"

Nino had a scandalized look which pretty much answered his question.

"She's on our payroll, if that's what you're wondering." Ash replies airily. "Now, we're about to go into the land negotiations, and if the Reed family wants to sit in for some local representation, I'd love it."

"Payroll?" Linus asks as he limps along with the rest of them. "What do you do for him, Nino?"

"I'm currently a, uh…" Nino thinks on it for a bit. "'Advisor to the Elibe expedition'? Something like that?"

"Advisor?" Linus scoffs. "The hell kind of position is that?"

"If possible I want her to stay on as the regional head." Ash replies over his shoulder. "But if she's not into it, then the deal is for her to help our branch get on its feet before we part ways."

"What he said." Nino replies cheerily. "I don't know what I want, though." She adds.

Ash turns to face Nino. "I really want you to stay." He says while walking backwards. "You're too good for us to just give up like that."

"I want to be with my family too." Nino counters with a friendly tone. "So it's a bit tough to decide."

…

…

The conversation with the mayor lasts until the next morning, when the issue of construction is finally settled.

Turns out, Sacae as a region has no organized government and thus has no deciding rights on local territory. If you can defend it, it's yours.

Even so, Ash insisted that the Sacaean Mouth of the River agree to the contract, so as to allow citizens of the Phoenix free passage into the city and ships free port. In exchange, the Phoenix would foot the bill for defense of the sea lanes around the city from pirates and invaders alike, as well as the rights of agriculture of as much land as they pleased.

"Sacaean soil is not suited for farming, so do your best." The mayor shrugs.

With that settled, the trading company can move on to their first task: the construction of their trading post on a stretch of coast a bit north of the city. The area was rather deep, making it unsuitable for Elibe ships, but perfect for the far heavier Phoenix ships, of which there are two.

"So the docks come first, huh?" Nino muses to herself as she studies the base blueprints.

"Yeah." Ash nods. "We'll send a line ship in around three months' time, so make sure the main structure is ready by then."

"No problem, boss!" Akatsuki salutes smartly. "It'll be the best building we've ever built."

 _It's the first building you've ever built._ Ash notes in his head. "I look forward to it."

Lloyd read between the lines. "Sir, how do you plan to get home? You mentioned that both the Cruiser and Carrier are staying here."

Ash grins. "That's none of your problem, Sir Lloyd. You just make sure your brother stays on his treatment."

"Yes, sir." Lloyd bows dutifully. While he didn't trust Ash, he knew at the very least when to appear servile, and when to strike if necessary…and besides, Nino seemed to like him, so he wasn't about to make his baby sister sad.

"Cool." Ash then addresses Nino. "I'll be heading out in a few. I'm assigning the Neverland to you for the foreseeable future, so use her as you see fit."

"Yes sir." Nino salutes, and Ash makes his exit.

"The Neverland?" Lloyd parrots.

"That's the Cruiser." Nino explains. "By him transferring it to me means he's giving me command…" She has a slightly faraway look on her face.

"So…" Lloyd reaches the logical conclusion. "That would make it your flagship?"

"I guess." Nino stretches. "Well, it's not like I'm going to get anything done by standing around." She gives Lloyd a beaming smile. "Can you help me, big brother Lloyd?"

…

On the Carrier's infirmary, Linus grumbles something about not getting enough screen time before being sedated.

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes: It's Nino's time to shine!...despite her not really doing anything...!

...well she is really just getting a ride home, no?


	2. Building up Shop

{ === + === }

After a period of three months, the long anticipated 'line ship' arrived in Elibe.

To the disappointment of the curious onlookers, the so-called line ship was rather small by Phoenix standards—it was about half as large as the Neverland—and didn't look like it had any interesting equipment.

The onlookers eventually noticed the large roller on the back of the ship…as well as the thick ropes being pulled through the ocean. Most considered the rope too thick to use for fishing.

"What do you think that's for?" Village A wonders.

Villager B doesn't care. "Who knows?" He gives his visiting buddy a slap on the shoulder. "Now let's go or the Market will close."

"What's the rush?" Village A yawns. "That place doesn't know the meaning of 'close'."

…

Lloyd Reed, the official representative for the Black Fang and the Phoenix company, also noticed the line ship and the strange rope. He was intrigued, but figured he'll get an idea later. Thus, he continued on his primary task of giving a report to the local leader of operations.

He arrives at the operation leader's office and knocks on the already open door. "Excuse me." He says as a formality while striding in, then stops dead in his tracks.

One of the walls of the rectangular office had a large wall in front of it. Lloyd was quite confused at exactly what's going on, and judging by the lead's frown, so was she.

"Uh…?" Lloyd vocalizes his confusion.

"I have no idea." Nino has no idea even as she watches the technician (or so he called himself) handle the installation of this new wall.

Lloyd gives this man a once over. He was large, not exactly well-built, wore a toolbelt around his waist, messily bearded...and he seemed to know what he's doing.

"Y'know," the technician grunts as he puts the forest of wires into place. "Never have I thought that I'd be installing a goddamn magically powered holographic flatscreen TV in goddamn magic medieval Mongolia."

Lloyd…understood none of that. "I'm sorry?"

"Not your problem, kid." The technician hooks one last line into place. "Alright, girlie, fire her up."

Nino understood none of that. "How?"

"That board over there." The technician gestures to a board of buttons connected to a bundle of garishly colored (and meticulously labeled) rope. "Big button labeled 'on'. Hit it."

Nino was confused, but did as she was told.

The new wall, the "screen", changed colors from a black to a dark blue, then translucently green.

The three of them waited for a few more seconds, but nothing else happened.

"Well, that's cool at least." The technician grumbles, walking over to the board. He rapidly punches in a series of numbers.

Silence.

"Before you ask, yes, something was supposed to happen." The techie waves Nino off. "Now shoo, I need to work."

Nino vaguely remembered Ash joking about never disturbing something called a "Sysadmin", so she decided to leave and let the man do his work.

 _Hint: the technie isn't a sysadmin._

"So what's that thing supposed to be?" Lloyd asks Nino as they pace down the halls.

"I think it's some kind of communications system." Nino replies doubtfully. "I don't know how it's supposed to work, though." She holds her hand out for the folder in Lloyd's hand. "How's the town?"

Lloyd hands his folder over. "For how much progress it's made over the past three months? Things are quite peaceful."

"Hmm." Nino open the folder scans the document inside quickly. "Any problems?"

"Minor banditry." Lloyd sighs. "But your security forces seem to be on top of things, especially with that new spell of theirs."

"The Boss made it a point for us to test those." Nino finishes reading the paper before her and tucks it back into the folder. "The first round of harvest is coming in, so can you look to the granaries and markets for me later?"

"Of course." Lloyd bows slightly. "I didn't think I'd be holding a governance job in my lifetime." He adds with a small smile.

"Better you than Linus." Nino replies with a playful grin.

"I heard that!" Linus calls out from around the corner. He pops out from the corner…with Hibiki sitting on his shoulder.

Lloyd felt his heart swell at seeing Linus without his cane for the first time in years. Granted, Linus's been cane-less for the past week now, but it certainly didn't lessen the impact. Then he noticed the girl.

"Um." Nino had many questions.

"Doctor said I should do some rehab." Linus smirks. "So I figured I should start with some running."

"And I need to get to the Market." Hibiki says calmly. "He's transport."

"Um." Nino still had many questions.

"Later." Linus waves cheerily and runs off. Lloyd and Nino then hear a dull thud followed by an "ow" of pain from Hibiki.

"I wish they paid more attention to the doorframes." Nino sighs.

…

[At the Market]

…

The Market was an unintended consequence of needing to establish a trading port quickly.

While the trading ship, the Carrier, held the starting material and the hefty equipment needed to make said construction happen, it lacked enough raw materials to actually build the houses and lay down paved roads. It did, however, contain a fair sum of money and a one-of-a-kind desalinizer.

The Desalinizer allows the Carrier to provide both freshwater and salt to the trading post. Since salt happens to be quite the rare commodity (especially when it can be easily transported), the port was then able to exchange that salt for building material.

Even so, the cost of constructions depleted Nino's allocated funds to dangerously low levels. Lloyd had a minor heart attack when he learned later that her budget for establishing the outpost was roughly 20 million gold.

 _The salt and freshwater sales made at most two hundred thousand gold._

Thanks to the large amounts of capital she had, Nino had the headquarters and the main docks built within a month of landfall. Afterwards, she could busy herself with the job of making the investment pay off.

Per standard (theoretical) operating procedure, she bought a copy of every book she could find and rolled out the ship's printing presses. She added these books to the ones stocked within the Enterprise—stories and manuscripts from Akaenea, Valentia, and Tellius—and established the Elibean branch of the Phoenix Library, immediately and viciously cornering the literary market. The library was easily more than a match for one belonging to royalty, and, like the main branch, it provided a service that allowed anyone to make copies of books with a nominal fee. With that, the port's importance skyrocketed, and prospective scholars, traders, and spies flooded in.

…Or at least that was the theory. In practice, only the flow of traffic around the river and the Mouth increased, and the effects tapered off dramatically the further you went from the port. The trading post was still pretty new, after all, and most dismissed the information (the warships, the salt, the library, etc) as hyperbole and rumors until their own agents could give them a better, more accurate read on things.

Still, the increase in population meant a rapid need for quick and cheap housing, as well as areas for people to just sit and read for hours on end. This rapid influx of housing meant a sudden spike in need for other services, and enterprising chefs, brewers, cloth makers, board gamers, adult service providers, and businessfolk of all manners quickly moved in to fill the demand.

Outrealmers from the Company then joined in. The ones with the business acumen and skill had no issues finding gainful work setting up their own shops, and it's not uncommon to see an Outrealmer shop filled to the brim with customers vying for either a well-made trinket or some new delicious treat. In particular, the Elibean locals seemed to have a taste for a good breakfast—bacon, eggs, a fluffy waffle drizzled with maple syrup. Or maybe they were just fond of the syrup, it's a bit hard to tell.

This ramshackle mix of buildings, people, and flowing money became known as the Market (for obvious reasons) and the name stuck. After some time in operation, "going to The Market" became a colloquial catchphrase for the people along the river if they wanted to spend some coin in the Phoenix Trading Post.

As always, it's not all puppies and roses. The speed at which the town sprang up, plus its rather bloated density, meant that the Market was bound to attract trouble, sometimes those that were legitimately—if unknowingly—dangerous. Linus was out to look for these troubles.

The two brothers have been assisting Nino in her duties out of both pride in their baby sister and professional curiosity about these newcomers. Lloyd, the more diplomatic of the two, tended to assist in negotiations between the Phoenix and the increasingly large presence of Elibean nobility. Linus was just out to bash some heads, and offered his assistance to the Stars girls in their peacekeeping efforts.

…though it should be said that Mad Dog Linus felt rather tame next to these children. Incredibly tame, in fact. The two of them were out on patrol, and the white-haired girl riding on his shoulders was attracting quite a lot of attention. Not that she cared any.

"There's one." Hibiki says, giving Linus's hair a tug. "Over there." She orients his head to her own field of vision.

Linus didn't even need to look to know that the girl has that strange thing over her eyes again. "Let's get him then." He says confidently.

A few strides later, Linus has his land on their target's shoulder. It was a small girl in her mid-teens, by his estimates. She had her hands on a fruit from an open-air stall, and froze upon feeling Linus's firm grip.

"Sorry to interrupt." Hibiki says sternly to the lady thief. "But shoplifting is a no-no."

"Pay for it, and get out." Linus adds gruffly, being the bad cop to Hibiki's good.

The girl grumbles about being caught, toss a bag of gold to the shopkeep (who only now noticed said larceny), and vanish into the crowds.

The two of them continue on this patrol for some time and stop a few more cases from occurring.

"Why don't you just shoot them?" Linus asks after the twentieth time or so. "It would save the both of us a lot of leg work."

"Yes, but having to clean up the mess is a pain." Hibiki replies professionally. "And I'll have to file a report for why I got my outfit dirty." Her armor's almost radiantly white, and if the sun was out, she would have likely blinded many with its reflection.

 _Or so she believes._

Linus seems surprised about her last point. "Nino cares about that?"

"She doesn't." Hibiki replies with a shrug.

Linus nods slightly. "Yeah, I thought it didn't sound like her."

"But the boss did say that we have to keep our claws retracted until we have to fight, so to that end…" Hibiki pats down her coat. "…we stay our hand."

The two stop at the center of the market and find a place to sit. Linus briefly marvels at the odd, pointy, glasses-like fixture on the statue's eyes. _How does it stay up like that?_

Linus then notices the faint beads of sweat on Hibiki's brow. "Still, must be odd to be so shorthanded that leaders like yourselves are off doing patrols." He smirks.

"I like patrols." Hibiki replies calmly, dabbing the sweat away with a small handkerchief.

"Right." Linus felt a touch snubbed, and the two rests in slightly uncomfortable silence for a while longer.

After a fashion, Hibiki notes a tall woman with blue hair approach them. She immediately reaches into her cloak for her knife and keeps it at the ready. Any passing person would have thought that she was simply putting away her handkerchief.

Linus notices the woman as well. Reasoning that he can't detach from Hibiki and have it looks suspicious, he decides to simply cross his arms and lean against the statue.

The woman reaches him in short order and sits on the statue next to him. To everyone watching, she's basically resting and taking in the sights.

"Hello, Linus." The Woman says in a low tone. "Fancy seeing you here and relaxed…and whole."

"I have this town to thank for that." Linus replies levelly. "How are things back home, Ursula?" He adopts a very relaxed tone, like chatting with a friend.

 _Ursula. Black Fang. Assassin. Potentially dangerous._ Hibiki remembers quickly from Nino's briefing. She takes the cue from Linus and pretends not to have overheard anything.

"It's stellar, Linus." Ursula says with a sigh. "What with the increase in Bern's military organization, Lady Sonja has us running ragged to keep tabs on all of the possible armed forces running around the capital."

"Ain't that just great." Linus stretches. "You didn't come here just to talk about your troubles, I assume?"

Hibiki suddenly touches Linus's shoulder and then (keeping out of Ursula's line of sight) her ear.

"Ok, I'll catch up in a second." Linus replies firmly. "You go on ahead."

Hibiki hops off the statue's base and makes her exit. Linus and Ursula both doesn't notice the tiny little thing dropped at Linus's foot.

"So who was that girl?" Ursula inquires curiously. "Don't tell me you've developed a strange taste after seeing your sister after all these years."

"Not funny." Linus rolls his eyes. " _That_ is one of the captains of the guard around here. Supposedly she's pretty good, but I've never seen her fight."

"Oh?"

Linus nods. "Yeah. She's a magic wielder. Got any insights?"

Ursula has already lost Hibiki's small figure in the throng of people. "She knows a thing or two about stealth, that's for sure." She says. "But I certainly can't make judgments about her power with just that little meeting."

"Unfortunate." Linus sighs. "So what does mother have for us?"

"She's paid off a band of Sacaean nomads to raid this town." Ursula says casually. "Its prominence has some of our Bern and Etrurian contacts worried, and they would like to take it down a peg."

"That's…" Linus frowns. The rapid expansion of the trading post meant that there wasn't even a low hedge in sight for defense against external threats, much less a proper wall. One fire arrow and entire sections of the town would turn to ashes.

"It's a little extreme." Ursula agrees. "But it's the contract."

 _No avoiding it then._ "So what should we do?" Linus asks.

"Nothing." Ursula replies blithely. "As far as Lady Sonja is concerned, the two of you are still at the Mouth, which means this attack means nothing to you."

Linus felt like he needed to clarify. "Nino's working here. We're not just going to abandon her, are we?"

"Sonja gave no orders pertaining to Nino." Ursula replies levelly. "She should be lucky enough to escape the attack." She takes out a book and begins to idly flip through its pages.

 _Lucky?_ Linus frowns. "There really wasn't a special order regarding Nino?"

"Not my problem, and by the sounds of it not Lady Sonja's problem either." Ursula smiles at a passing young man. He returns the smile (rather nervously) while walking by and head straight into a cart, causing a minor kerfuffle. "Remember that Nino has broken a contract taken by the Fang. She's no longer family."

Linus has heard that before and like before he could not have cared any less. "She's our little sister, and we're not going to abandon her."

Ursula's tone said she didn't care. "There are no other Fangs participating in this mission apart from Jaffar."

Linus had a baaaad feeling about this. "And?"

"It's his job to ensure that this town's head goes rolling." Ursula puts a bookmark at a random spot in the book and closes it. "So at the very least don't get in his way."

"Don't get in his way?" Linus repeats in disbelief.

…

In a nearby Inn, Hibiki sat with one hand to her ear. _Her other hand's on a mug of milk._

 _She had alerted HQ to the conversation between Linus and Ursula, and listened with increasingly furrowed brows. The owner of the inn briefly wondered if the milk was bad._

"Well, shit, I guess." Akatsuki sighs over her radio, having heard the entire conversation. "Good job on that spider web, Hibiki."

The little node that Hibiki dropped was a piece of the "Spider Web", a set of microphones enchanted to pick up and separate incoming audio into different lines of communication. It's called a Spider Web because, back during the Valmese War, spider web nodes need to be deployed in a chain so they could repeat the audio information over any kind of respectable distance. These new ones have a much longer connection range (roughly eight hundred meters) but the name was kept for legacy purposes.

"Do we have a time estimate?" Inazuma asks worriedly. "I don't want to have these nomads suddenly appear from out of nowhere."

"We can probably set up a line of defense with reactive sensors." Akatsuki agrees. "Otherwise, with the way this town is set up, I won't be surprised if these nomads don't take the time to group into an attack force and just, y'know, go for it."

Hibiki scratches her head. "What should we do, captain?" She asks.

"I'll see to the lines of defense getting set up." Nino replies. "For now, make sure you're ready to deploy at any time, even if you have to do it with just the gear on hand."

Hibiki made a face at that. 'Gear on hand' meant she could possibly be expected to go into a fight with just her knife, pocket spellbook, and a pistol. She makes a note to visit the quartermaster for a bigger rifle after this meeting ends.

"Do we have something more than just, y'know, us?" Akatsuki asks, gesturing to the four people in the room.

"We have the trainees." Inazuma notes. Stars has expanded with more manpower, but…

"Yeah, all six of 'em." Akatsuki huffs. "They can man a gun just fine, but I don't think the trainees are gonna do much in an active fight. This isn't Risen we're talking about, y'know."

"Then let's make sure there isn't a possibility of it being an active battle." Nino cuts across the chatter. "We are still the Phoenix, and it's going to take more than just a small band of horsemen to screw us over."

"Hear hear." Akatsuki raises her glass. "I'll brief the trainee girls when we're done here."

"What about the assassin?" Hibiki reminds her. "He'll be coming for you."

Nino bites her lip. "I'll handle it somehow." She had a feeling.

…

Meanwhile, Linus has already reported to Lloyd.

"What should we do, brother?" Linus asks in no small amounts of worry.

Lloyd mulls things over. On one hand, if the warship is anything to go by then the city itself should be just fine against attack. On the other, without really understanding the doctrine of the city, he has no way to estimate just how much damage it will take from a nomadic raiding force.

Sacae has rebuffed all attempts to bring the area under the yoke of a neighboring nation due to the fragmented state of its hordes…and due to the fact that it was, y'know, Magical Mongolia, with Magical Mongolians. Sacaean horse archers were by far the most destructive force available on the plains, and Lloyd would wager that the civilians living and working at this port all knew this, save maybe the actual Phoenix personnel.

With that information in hand, he has no course of action but to assume that some level of damage will be done by the extremely fast horse archers, and that the damage will cause some level of panic, which will allow Jaffar to slip in during the confusion and…

Jaffar stayed with the Black Fang due to Sonja giving him a pardon for going against the fang, much to Ursula's indignation. Unknown to him, Sonja had originally intended to remove Jaffar from the field of play entirely, but Nergal had interceded, allowing the man to continue to serve in a limited fashion.

Lloyd did know about Jaffar's skills as an assassin, and the man's title as the Angel of Death was well deserved…and that new sword he received was certainly no mere showpiece.

And…while Lloyd will be the last person to trash talk his little sister, he had to admit that, in the months that he's been here so far, he's only seen Nino perform administrative tasks (which she did quite well) and has never actually seen her fight. Hell, he's never actually seen _any_ of the Stars girls fight. So there's this (understandable) worry in the back of his mind that the Stars are, in effect, a parade squad made just for the sake of looking pretty.

Moreover, Lloyd's background is in assassination, and thus has limited experience in combat against nomadic horse archers. So he's really not in the position to assess the combat strength on both sides of the conflict here, a fact he realized with a little bit of embarrassment.

Sure, he's read the reports…but reports aren't the real thing.

So with that, the two Reed brothers discussed what they could possibly do to safeguard Nino while also staying in line with the orders of the Black Fang.

 _Ursula, the cause of all this ruckus, found the magic of Ice Cream while everybody else was planning and spent a considerable amount of money in thirty minutes. She had no regrets._

…

[Two Days Later, 1000 hours]

…

The town could feel that something was going to happen. There was some strange electricity in the air that wasn't there normally. The air felt stiff for some reason, and everyone went about their business with a slight sense of muted dread.

Some of the sharp-eyed people realized that the Stars were nowhere to be seen…which was pretty normal, since there are only four of them (counting Nino) and quite a lot of hours in the day. But their disappearance seemed unnatural. Some of the sharp-minded of the sharp-eyed realized that they have been scarce for the past two days, not just the past few hours. They had a mind to panic, but at the same time…it's the Market, y'know? It takes ten armies to destroy this place.

 _Somewhere down the line the stories of the Trade Post's security got inflated._

On the inland edge of town there stands a tower roughly five stories tall. It was built as an early warning system against land-based threats by some surprisingly loyal merchants-turned-immigrants, and for the last two weeks have been manned on a daily basis by volunteers who wished to do their duty towards their new home.

One of these volunteers saw the dust being kicked up in the distance, and rang the bell.

…

While admirable, he really didn't need to have bothered.

Some twenty minutes ago, the nomads had crossed the first sensor line, set far beyond the village's visual range.

"The first line of defense has been triggered." An operator announced from within the Neverland's Command Information Center (CIC). "Approximate count, 300 units. Magical signature indicates cavalry."

"Understood." The officer in charge nods. "Alert Stars and the Admiral, and send out a scout. Keep tabs on their position."

Some minutes later, the Stars were on deck and were already mounting combat gear. It was considered too disturbing to the peace to simply run weapons through the town like a normal defensive operation.

"Stars!" Akatsuki calls out. "We have a likely incoming hostile group! Pack heat, 'cuz we're going in hot!"

Hibiki rates the speech a solid "Six out of ten." Especially since she made said speech while they were still loading.

"Shush and get the Jacket Armor attached."Akatsuki snaps, red-faced.

The Jacket armor is a set of high-output engines attached to a set of greaves…attached to something vaguely armor-like. The engines give the wearer an air-shoes effect in where they can hover over the ground while accelerating forward at incredible speeds.

The rest of the armor exists to provide balance for the greaves and additional hard points to hold other weapons, so the girls don't have to keep their hands busy at all times.

"What will it be, girlies?" The ship's quartermaster asks with a cheeky grin. Behind him are carts upon carts of oversized guns, boxes of ammunition, and more boxes marked "condenser".

"One Thor, one M20, and a switchblade." Akatsuki says quickly. "And two condensers."

"You got it." The quartermaster snaps his fingers. "Get 'em armed and ready! Time's a wastin'!" At his bellow, the sailors responsible for bringing out the equipment hustle to work.

So while that's going on…

[Equipment]

Thor: A rugged piece of equipment from the War against Valm (and later Grimleal) during the War of Awakening back in Akanea. This piece of gear fires rails at high velocities with large amounts of thunder magic for great effect, and goes on the girls' back like a piece of artillery. It's very similar to a 120mm Howitzer, only not as impressive.

M20: Basically a four-barrel chain gun. Like the Thor, the barrels of the gun are encased in a shell of magical electrical rails that accelerate the bullets (nails) to great speed. It doesn't really do anything else beyond spew nails at a rate of 300 rounds per minute in a Medieval setting at near-sonic speeds.

Switchblade: Despite the name, the switchblade is as long as Akatsuki is tall (so about five feet). It is not necessarily a sword in that it can't be used by itself—the switchblade is like a sword without a hilt—but instead it's designed to be attached onto some other weapon, like the M20, to give it a bladed edge while swinging it. The switchblade itself works by projecting a magical edge onto itself for cutting purposes…it also projects a bayonet tip because the designer had a very generous budget.

Condenser: These things collect water from the air and solidify them into thin shards of ice. These shards of ice are then encased with a shell of raw magic power and the whole thing is then used as ammunition. Each condenser can create around twenty rounds per minute, and can hold up to two hundred rounds in total.

And of course, the wind shoes, shoes enchanted with wind, that are standardized equipment on all Phoenix outfits. More speed, less troubles, and all that.

…

With Stars suited up, the understaffed equipment crew switched their attention to the newbies, who were indeed very new at this. As the newbies were corralled into their jacket armors, they heard the town bell go off.

"Well, fuck." Akatsuki hoists her gear over her shoulders. "Plan B it is! We'll set up at the firing point." She points to the newbies. "Arm up and follow as fast as you can."

Plan A involved the Stars squadron deploying to eliminate the nomads from beyond the town's visual range, so as to avoid bringing up any more problems than necessary.

Plan B was the contingency. In the event that the nomads _were_ sighted by the town, the Stars would make a big show out of mowing down the enemy with superior firepower.

Thus, with the bell ringing in the distance, the three veteran Stars slung some extra guns over their shoulders (so they're effectively dual-wielding chainguns) and jumped off of the Enterprise's deck.

"Make way! Make way!" Akatsuki yells at the top of her lungs, also amplifying her voice for effect. "Stars comin' through!"

The crowd of people in the Market, somewhat confused and worried by the sound of the bell, focused on Akatsuki's voice and cleared a path for her as she ordered.

"Excuse us!" Inazuma calls out clearly, bringing up the rear. "We're about to go into battle, so please be aware of your surroundings!"

"Kick their ass!" A merchant from within the crowd yells to general approval.

Knowing that the Stars are on task, the crowd's unease minimized and they went onto their daily duties.

Elsewhere, Ursula was spending time in the Marketplace, sampling wares and being very…confused, at the relative lack of tension within the general population. She had expected something more along the lines of families quickly returning indoors. Instead, she saw…at _best_ a general interest, at worst a little bit of worry.

"Darling." She addresses the merchant manning the closest stall. "Can you tell me…why are you so calm in the face of danger?" For added effect she leans forward to enchant the young man.

The young merchant obligingly looks down the collar of Ursula's shirt. "W-well." He gulps and refocuses on her face. "This _is_ one of the most well defended towns in all of Elibe."

Ursula…she has heard that line before. Many times. More than she cared to count. Some of them uttered by person or persons moments before they were eliminated by her hand.

She has, however, never heard that sentence spoken with such a matter-of-fact tone before, and that surprised her. "That's…quite a claim to make." She says slowly.

The man nods. "Surprised me the first time I heard it, too." He gestures to the buildings lining the edge of town, where the more curious civilians were already starting to gather. "You're free to watch."

"I must admit I've never had an impending attack treated as an attraction before." Ursula mutters. "This should be interesting."

…

The leader of the nomads figured he was getting overpaid for this job.

The man wasn't stupid. He's heard about this newcomer town and its supposedly extremely powerful warship. He heard about how those strange ships from somewhere fought off those strange ships from Jugdral at extreme range, and understood the value of being careful.

He also knew that correlation didn't mean causation, and figured that the stories of an "extremely long range ballistae sinking ships in one shot" were a bit of a hyperbole. It supposedly spins and shoots invisible fire, who'd believe that?

Thus, he now rode towards this…bloated trading post of a town that sprung up seemingly out of nowhere. A trading post town with just a single ship for defense (he can't help but giggle at that one) and no walls to speak of.

Though he was confident in both his archery and tactical foresight, he gently reminded himself that a town without a wall is either incredibly naïve…or incredibly well defended by a roaming force.

Still, there is zero visual cover from the town from his current position, and likewise no way for the defenders of the town to be hidden from sight. The nomad is thus rather surprised that there has yet to be a peep from the town. So much so, that their group is still travelling at that leisurely trot that saves their energy for the romp through the town later. He had a brief thought to maybe increase speed so they would get initiative.

Whatever his next thoughts were, it was suddenly replaced by the rather unpleasant vision of his decoy's head exploding.

…

"I got the gaudy looking one." Akatsuki cheers as she watches her now suddenly headless corpse twist exaggeratedly and fall off of its horse.

The Stars girls—all five of them—were perched on the rooftops of the Marketplace's outermost buildings. Each one of them were armed and armored to the teeth, and had their feet firmly planted on the wooden roofs with buckets of nails of wood and scrap iron varieties sitting next to them.

Nino and Linus were observing. Nino because she's in charge, and Linus because he wanted to.

 _3 stars and 2 trainees._

Currently, they're using the M20 chaingun for sniping, since the Thor has a tendency to tear up the land (more) and currently the nomads were riding over friendly turf.

"Good shot." Hibiki replies mechanically while snipe/mowing down a few more nomads.

"This feels a little unfair." Linus notes worriedly, watching the Nomads through an enhanced spyglass. He inwardly winces as one of the nomads' head is blown from its shoulders.

Inazuma laughs nervously. "Yeah, well…" She still doesn't hesitate to put a few rounds downrange.

 _Note that at this point "a few rounds" is basically about forty to fifty shots a second._

"We're out numbered 60 to 1, so I think something like this is perfectly fine." Akatsuki says dismissively and takes down a few more targets. "Command, how far are they from the third line of defense?"

"Nomads are a hundred feet out, but they don't seem to be making progress." An operator aboard the Neverland replies.

"That's just unfair." Linus notes indignantly. "You can communicate with other people in different places instantly."

"Yes." Hibiki keeps firing. "It's reality." She glances at Linus. "You're not going to arm yourself?" She asks curiously.

Linus shrugs. "I can walk fine, but the doc said I shouldn't fight." He pats her on her head. "Not that you need me anyways."

"That's right." Hibiki replies with zero emotion or remorse.

…

The five Stars members continue plinking away at the nomads at extreme range until roughly a third of the nomadic forces are dead. The rest begin to flee in panic in a remarkably orderly fashion.

"They're starting to retreat." Akatsuki reports after confirming the sight with her own spyglass. "What's the plan now?"

"Let them." Nino replies very matter-of-factly.

"They're going to tell everyone you have that kind of gear." Linus points out.

Nino shrugs. "After this fight, everybody will know we have this kind of gear with or without their help."

Linus nods slowly. "That's…certainly true." He glances back at the crowd of fifty or so people watching the girls shoot. "So what happens now?" He says a little louder over their cheers.

Nino had a faint feeling that she may be missing a chance. "I changed my mind." She says suddenly. "Stars, capture the nomads as best as you are able. Priority on their captain."

"You wanna know what made them come here, right?" Akatsuki grins. "Alright. Saddle up, girls!"

"We're not mounted, though…" Inazuma sighs. "Trainees stay here, please be ready to respond at a moment's notice."

The three veteran Stars still kick their wind shoes into high gear and skate after the nomads.

…

The nomads rode until they were sure they were not going to be mysteriously killed. They found a convenient patch of trees that would hide their position against any pursuers coming from the town.

"Whatever bonus we were supposed to be getting, it isn't enough." One Nomad growls. "Boss, the hell's going on?"

The Nomad boss was gnashing his teeth. "I don't know either." He snaps. "They had a ship, fine, but at least we should be able to see it before it starts shooting at us."

The group traded comments with each other (mostly in the form of "what the fuck's going on") before a new voice, quite distant sounding, shocked them into silence.

"This is the Phoenix Expeditionary Taskforce 'Stars'." Inazuma's voice rang faintly in the sky. "We ask that you disarm and dismount."

Literally no nomads did as she asked. They were rather surprised at the bodiless voice and became more guarded, which was quite understandable.

"Um…I say again: disarm and dismount." Inazuma repeats. "Comply with our orders, or we will attack."

"Maybe we should do as she says?" Nomad NPC A says warily. "She's asking nicely."

"If I am to die, I'd rather die with a weapon in my hand." The Nomad Boss tightens his bowstring. "We fight!"

"Strictly speaking, we're just looking for your boss." Akatsuki's voice flies over the air next. "So if you can restrain him or something, that'd be great."

The nomads were a bit unsure about what to make of this request.

"Otherwise, we'd have to shoot all of you." Hibiki adds. "And that would be unpleasant."

"I don't think I trust the words of a girl that young." The Nomad Boss scoffs.

"We warned you." Akatsuki says cheerily.

The Nomad Boss's horse is then blown out from underneath him.

While all Nomads in attendance were rather shocked at this sudden display of bloody violence, Akatsuki zips into the gaggle of Nomads, grabs the boss by the cuff of his neck, and drags him away with a cheery wave.

The Nomad boss struggled for a second until Hibiki picked up his legs. He was then ingloriously carried away by a pair of girls who are _way_ too strong for their physical size.

"Excuse us." Inazuma had the grace to bow apologetically to the Nomads before separating from them.

Understandably, the Nomads were entirely too shocked at the blitz attack to do anything.

"What just happened?" Nomad Sub-boss finally demands, after the girls were _long_ gone.

…

Nino and her brothers (and some of her staffers) walked over to the town's main road and entrance while the three girls were gone.

After a fashion, a rather lopsided figure skates into the town to curious onlookers.

"Stars, returning from mission." Inazuma, the one person who has free hands, reports and salutes Nino.

"We're baack!" Akatsuki announces and drops the nomad boss unceremoniously on the ground.

The nomad attempts to scramble to his feet and makes a move to pull his knife.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Linus smiles threateningly from above him. The Nomad boss notes that the man's hand was already on his sword. "On your knees, and no sudden moves."

Defeated, the Nomad moves his hands away from his waist and slowly does as he's told.

"Hello." Nino pleasantly catches his attention. "I have some questions for you, if you don't mind."

Nomad Boss really wasn't in the position to disagree, and he knew it.

Nino smiles in response to the Nomad Boss's sullen nod. "I'd like to know what drove you to attack our town."

Nomad Boss didn't answer…though his eyes flicked over to the crowd of people gathering (but kept at a distance).

Nino caught the distraction. From behind her, she heard some…no, many people gasp.

A group of cloaked figures suddenly dart forth from the crowd and charge towards the group gathered in the center.

"Shit!" Linus draws his weapon.

"Nino!" Lloyd yells in alarm and draws as well. He quickly assesses the situation and moves to intercept the closest assassin.

Then, before his eyes, the assassin gets hit by something invisible and stops as if hit by a sledgehammer.

A series of rapid popping around him caused Linus to look around.

There were a total of fifteen cloaked figures that had charged at Nino's party from all sides. At the moment, all but three were dead on the floor, not five seconds after they had begun their attack.

Lloyd's attention turned to the Stars. Each one of them had their shattered gear in one hand, and a strange tube thing in the other…it looked like a smaller version of the large 'gun' they were using moments earlier. All three of them were pointing their smaller guns in all directions, and were probably responsible for killing the would-be assassins in cold blood.

 _For the record: the Stars are currently wielding an enchanted revolver._

"Rush me again." Akatsuki says with cold fury. "I dare you."

Though the two surviving assassins didn't know what hit them, they knew they were being targeted by a weapon of some kind, and stayed defensive.

Lloyd blinks. _Wait, only two?_

"We lost one." Hibiki warns.

Nino heard and felt the mysterious figure rush at her back.

"Cap!" Inazuma yells as a warning and turns her gun towards the assassin.

But she didn't need to have bothered.

The lone assassin felt the hair on his neck stand up, and threw himself to the ground second before an absurdly powerful beam of electricity tore into the sky. The strength of the spell was seen by the entirety of the Market, and the entire town fell silent.

Lloyd stares, dumbfounded, at Nino's outstretched hand.

"We didn't live through the apocalypse through just equipment, you know." Akatsuki chuckles…though her aim was unwaveringly pointed at the last assassin's heart. "So please don't think you can just send an assassin and solve your problems."

The assassin, from his prone position, throws a knife at the Nomad Boss.

The knife gets slammed into the ground by an absurdly strong blast of wind.

"That's quite enough." Nino says severely, one of her hands crackling with electricity, the other swirling with wind. "Keep your hands where we can see them." Laces of blue magical power arc around her body, backing up her threat. For the record, she's doing it intentionally.

The three remaining assassins, feeling the flight response scream through their body, dutifully dropped their weapons and surrendered.

In the crowd, Ursula watches this development with a scowl. _If she's that powerful, then anything I can do here will be immediately overpowered._ She surmises. _Best lay low for a while._

…

After a little bit of pleasant suggestion (the Phoenix isn't big on torture) the Nomad Boss divulged what he knew about his mission and was allowed to go on his way. He returned a day later with his entire clan and swore fealty towards the Phoenix Empire.

"I like to play for the winning team." He explained when asked why. More specifically, his clan was in danger of being wiped out by a rival, and the deal from the Black Fang came at just the right time, and the money would have—in the worst case scenario—been enough to bribe their rivals to leave them alone. However, since the nomads _lost_ , they now had few options, and surrendering to an overwhelming force seemed like the best bet. As their opening gift, they gave what they thought the Phoenix would need most: a detailed map of Sacae's trade routes.

With the information she now had, Nino now knows that the Black Fang was targeting the port and had intended to assassinate its leader, which at the moment was her. While she did know of the attack before (since Linus shared information), she now had confirmation from the offending party and a clear picture on who had ordered it. The information didn't make her any happier.

The lone, nearly successful assassin is indeed Jaffar, who was rather surprised and shocked that he had been ordered to assassinate Nino. Given he rather likes her it wasn't too difficult to get him to switch sides…after she dragged him tooth and nail out of a rather depressing period of self-loathing. Apparently she used figs according to relationship advice obtained from a friend of hers. That friend has henceforth discouraged from giving love advice.

Then they get into an actual relationship (with sex and everything), but since that isn't really the main focus here, we're going to sideline that entire subplot in favor of moving things along.

 _Be nice to the fourth wall. We only have one of those._

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

I wrote this back during Christmas, which is why this update is coming around so fast.


	3. Defending the Shop

{ === + === }

So the Black Fang threat came and went (in a fashion), and the Phoenix trading post experienced their first winter in Elibe.

By the Phoenix standard, it was rather tame.

Largely because it was the first winter and therefore was going to be classed as 'tame' no matter what.

As far as Elibans were concerned, it was one of the worst winters they remember.

Much of the winter was characterized by an unusually strong wind blowing from the shoreline of Ilia towards Bern (and thus basically everyone else) causing the winter to be much colder than the previous two.

The short of it: shit got bad, fast.

To wit: many strategists predicted that the colder weather would stop ships from Jugdral from sailing to Elibe. Those same strategists had predicted that the Phoenix warships would be able to stop Jugdral warships from sailing to Elibe.

They were (as you might guess from how this is going) wrong.

Though, to be fair, while the choppier seas that resulted in the cold weather couldn't stop the Jugdral ships from approaching the continent, it did force them to sail closer to the coastline and thus enter the Phoenix's sphere of influence. Since the Phoenix warship had better range and no problems with choppier waters, any sailors from Jugdral heading south invariably find themselves in the ocean.

 _Certain factions in Jugdral did advocate for sending trading ships to this new trading post to establish good relations. Sadly, the few attempts at this were foiled when the lightly armed and armored trading ships were boarded and looted by rival groups with bigger and angrier ships._

So with the southern route effectively cut off, Jugdral ships found themselves being forced to go north and sail along the Ilian coastline, where the weather is harsh and the pickings slim. As winter continued to become colder and harsher, the ships did indeed stop sailing…but not before dropping quite a lot of desperate Judgral warriors and sailors on the closest patch of land they could find, which happens to be overwhelmingly Ilian soil.

Thus, Ilia, which never really had the best time when it came to winter, now had to deal with raiders who had nothing left to lose. Ilia's usual defense against wintertime raiders happen to be Goddamn Witner™, so now that it was no longer working (in the sense that the raiders not frozen to death were now angrier and hungrier) they had preciously little in the form of actual defense. Ilia was, after all, most famous for their attractive mercenaries, and those mercenaries don't make money by staying in their home country.

Long story short, the raiders made a mess of things in Ilia, convinced other Jugdral raiders that Ilia was shitty as a raiding spot but otherwise had its share of spoils (read: attractive not-yet-mercenaries) and eventual land access to the rest of Elibe, far away from that stupidly powerful warship. This ensured that the Ilian nobility had a constant and consistent raider issue they needed to solve, and Ilia's kingship attempted to combat the problem by issuing a general recall to its many mercenary wings.

Which…since the winter was rather harsh, and Ilia's mercenaries had a reputation of not abandoning their contract…of the mercenaries that got the recall, very few were willing to heed a call for home in the short term if it meant harm to their long term employability. Those that did return were unable to effectively fight small bands of ground units with literally all the snow being blown in their faces. At least they were safe against arrows.

 _No ground units took the recall order under the reasoning of "fuck going back to Ilia during the worst winter."_

To cap the problem off, grain prices skyrocketed. Ilian nobility needed to purchase foodstuffs to offset the cost of both dealing and dealings with raiders, and Ilia border towns had zero issues charging through the nose for the grain. This severely inflated price meant that many mayors emptied their granaries on a short-term basis for a huge income, which then they would spend buying more grain from other cities. To note: grain is not exactly a plentiful commodity during wintertime.

Many towns ended up starving when their mayors drained their granaries and became unable to refill them due to a lack of goods. Those towns then either rebelled or were raided by bandits themselves, further creating a massive shock of unrest and emigration that seeped towards the rest of the continent.

As the winter winded down to spring, the problem of grain prices had fortunately burned itself out. The towns paying a premium for grain either wised up to how gold can't be eaten during winter, or else no longer existed. This _did_ mean that springtime opened a fairly sizeable market, and somebody's always willing to profit when there's a market available.

…

By comparison, the Phoenix Trading Company's trading post now renamed to Traesto (Ash, upon suggesting the name, grinned like a moron and did not elaborate on why he found it amusing) had a relatively pleasant winter. The winter itself wasn't any more pleasant—wind blowing from the ocean made things hellishly cold—but at least they had a few ways to solve the other problems.

With their communication equipment, Traesto could request for shipments of food during the wintertime and have it arrive within two weeks. This ensured that both it and the neighboring Mouth would have plenty of food to weather out the winter. As an added bonus, when the grain price issue came to the trading post, the near-instantaneous communication between Nino and Ash allowed her to dissuade any enterprising traders who may not have been the most interested in local welfare.

The most immediate change that Traesto and the Mouth saw, however, was the strange and sudden proliferation of fresh produce available in the market. Fresh food during the winter was not necessarily a new thing—the Mouth produces small amounts of cold weather crops like cabbages and every so often butchers get fresh meat—but the quality, quantity, and variation of fresh food was unprecedented.

The reason for this was refrigeration, and then almost immediately after Stalled Refrigeration, so named by the Department of Extremely Enraged Physicists (DEEP). Stalled Refrigeration uses a combination of "normal physics" and "black magic" to basically create a cryogenic zone within a shipping container (for example), and then the shipping container would be used to ship food.

To quote one Physicist, "The shit that would have blown minds back on Earth is being used for 99 cent asparagus. What a time to be alive." Not many people listening to him knew what a 'cent' was since it wasn't local currency.

Stalled Refrigeration wasn't the only technology adopted that increased the local quality of life. While decidedly less amazing, the trading ship also brought along warm clothing, crop seeds, grills, personal fridges (though few in number), and various tools as needed by the Outrealmers upon their request.

Thanks to these technologies, a winter that was going to be at best unpleasant transformed into a pretty good time. The Mouth, Traesto, and the immediate surrounding towns and villages experienced a winter containing the luxury of a warm pizza and a cold beer…as well as giant rotisseries of meat for "kababs", ribs of meat slathered in some strange "barbeque" sauce, fermented leaves cooked in a fashion called "kimchi", crescent shaped, fluffy bread…

 _It was a damn good winter._

Food aside, Ash sent the Phoenix's only four Outrealmer Civil Engineers to Traesto. They made revisions to the local building code (read: actually established a building code) and had full authority to ensure that the buildings in the outpost were up to said code. A lot of rapid tearing down and reconstruction ensued. A month later, the civil engineers made a lot of enemies, but everyone agreed that the ample housing, wide streets, and ample street lighting were a definite plus compared to the hodgepodge that was the marketplace before.

Stars in particular were glad for the change, since the ever more labyrinthine city was making the job of patrolling the place a nightmare. They were even more glad of having rooms that "felt like heaven", which, sadly, resulted in a drop in their operation time, since none of the girls were too keen to leave said rooms.

The cause of the rooms was of course the change to building codes. The new code ensured that every building built within Traesto had pipes for internal heating, indoor plumbing, ready access to hot water, and ample heat retention. At a modest 800 square feet per unit, the civil engineers were surprised at how quickly each house was sold to the merchants and artisans intent on becoming a permanent member of the local society. Upon learning that the average house for an average person in the Mouth was at best half that size with none of the amenities, the engineers' only response was a blank "oh."

 _Technically the engineers didn't design the houses themselves._

As an added bonus, Ash had insisted that the houses be buildable as prefabricated units, so as to make both their installation and the act of "building tall" easier. So the trading post looks a little weird, with houses five stories tall next to short, one-story shops. Regardless, the availability of permanent property gave Traesto both standing as an actual trading post…and an overnight ad-hoc nobility class populated by those who bought said property.

Nino, not willing to put up with that Stupid Nobility Shit™, surprised her brothers and her boyfriend by siccing said boyfriend on those treated a house in Traesto like a license to be an asshole. Suffice to say the Angel of Death was a little surprised at that order on many levels, least of which was the three Stars girls' insistence in calling him "the captain's boyfriend" as they ordered him around.

At least one of them had the presence of mind to be embarrassed about it.

Sadly, his efforts were rather limited. Nino couldn't exactly give a full-on kill order against what are nominally her citizens, and thus the whole nobility business continued unabated despite his best efforts.

 _Ash assured her that a more permanent solution was in the works._

That minor cancer aside, Nino also implemented Ash's desired business slogan: no matter the politics, no matter the rank, you bring the gold, and we'll do business…Provided that the Phoenix assets can be protected when they reach their destination.

Ash figured that the uproar from such a blatant disregard of national sovereignty would be offset by the freedom of being able to support roving bands of Heroes when the time arrived.

Still, information not shared is useless, and thus Traesto spent a remarkable amount of resources during the winter time to hire messengers and ensure that all of Elibe knew of their policy. As a nice bonus, the continent's Outrealmers also learned about how the trading company is staffed by fellow Outrealmers (if not from the same nation), and that this Phoenix Company could get them home for a nominal fee. Thus, Outrealmers interested in a chance to go home made plans to move to Traesto at the earliest opportunity.

As a side effect to that side effect, some lords who realized that they had Outrealmers within their borders became very generous with their salaries and recruiting efforts. This would bankrupt a few of them years down the line as fake Outrealmers popped up with even faker technological marvels for pure profit.

 _Traesto itself would also see fakes, but since they have real engineers and physicists able to call out the bullshit, the fakers never got too far._

Lastly, on Ash's orders, Traesto spent its remaining resource—manpower—and toiled to turn the surrounding prairies into useable farmland. The local farmers—the few that moved in—were a bit confused as to what was going on. They could see the digging, but most of it looked like digging of the wrong kind.

The Outrealm farmers and horticulturalists claimed that they knew what they were doing, but the farmers had their doubts. Especially since some of the Outrealmers outright claimed that they had no idea what they were doing.

Still, by the time spring rolled around, a vast swath of land outside the town had been entirely transformed into farmland.

Which was weird, since the one defining feature of Sacae was that farmland—even along rivers—was a premium. But it was the work of these strange Phoenix people, so nobody thought too hard about it, and the oodles of farmers being promised a new life (plus a new house) moved in.

The extra farmers came with the aggressive advertising of the Phoenix's market strategy. They all moved to the Mouth during the last few weeks of winter in preparation for the planting season, and for the hefty bonus they were promised. In the end, though Nino received less manpower than she'd liked, there were now enough farmers to take advantage of about 70% of the prepared farmland, so she can't really complain.

After seemingly forever, Spring came to life. The powers interested in making a move came to life as well.

…

"Are you alright?"

Nino muttered something into her table.

"Nino?"

Nino muttered something again, but at least raised her head.

Jaffar sighs at the bleary-eyed lady with the red blotch on her forehead. "You really shouldn't be sleeping in your office, Nino."

"Can't help it." Nino yawns and stretches, sending the cloak Jaffar placed over her shoulders to the floor. "We really need more admins." She sighs.

Jaffar smirks ever so slightly. "Maybe you can send in a request for them?"

Nino hesitates. "I can't help but feel like that's a terrible idea." She admits.

Truth be told, Ash had none to send. Traesto was the first of three sites being established over the world (the other two being built were in Tellius, in the nations of Crimea and Begnion). Since the other two were just in their planning stages at best, all available resources of the Phoenix not tied up in critical duties were being sent to Nino.

It was, in effect, why Traesto got on its feet so quickly; Ash was crippling the other established branch in Akaenia to ensure that Elibe would be ready for service as quick as possible.

Resource issue aside, the Phoenix also suffers from a chronic shortage of experienced personnel, and the problem is far from being addressed since the 'empire' is barely three years old. Currently, many of the Outrealmers providing their services have taken their own apprentices (or are teaching classes), but it would be years before they're ready to make their own decisions…though in reality the problem is that Ash has no faith in using outside help, and establishing a system where said outside help can be reliably trusted is taking him longer than he thought.

Either way, Nino, her Stars, and Lloyd were running ragged taking and coordinating purchasing orders and caravan routes. As far as their work was concerned, there was no end in sight.

 _Linus confessed to not having much of a mind for these things, and was thus spared._

"In any event, working this hard does your health no favors." Jaffar says curtly. "Remember your training."

"Yes, yes." Nino says dismissively. "I'll remember my training in about six hours from now."

Jaffar sighs. Years ago he had an inkling she would grow up with this kind of relentless work ethic, but seeing it in action is something else. "Is there anything I can help with?" He asks.

Nino rubs her eyes. "If you can get those Etrurian traders to give the caravans more security that'll be appreciated.

Jaffar frowns. "Is it necessary for your caravans to travel the entire way?"

Nino also frowns. "Yes…Boss's orders." She stares at the slightly abused map on the table before her. "If the cities in Lycia would give us guarantees of access we'd be in good shape."

"It would also be easier if your boss gave us some leeway in negotiations." Lloyd says from the doorway. He then gives the doorway a curtesy tap. "Bad time?" He asks upon seeing the red blot on Nino's head.

Nino waves him in. "How goes it?"

Lloyd shrugs. "As expected, Lycia's united in charging a tax for using their roads. If your Ash wants to move his caravans without harassment, he'll have to use the Sacaean side of the mountains."

On the western side of Sacae sits two sets of mountain ranges. To the north sits Ilia, to the south, Lycia. Through the middle is the access to Etruria, and is unquestionably the most dangerous overland access to Etruria there is.

Lycia and Ilia both make sure that their passage is bandit-free, and as a result the bandits congregate in the middle lane. Tara, the largest and most well-fortified town on the route, does nothing to help against the banditry. The town charges a pretty sum for safe passage and the escort of its sizable mercenary corps, but otherwise does nothing against bandits plaguing the region. The other bandits know this, and politely raid the bejesus out of non-Tara forces at their own discretion.

"What about sea access?" Jaffar asks.

Nino makes a noncommittal gesture. "The Neverland is the best ship in all of Elibe, but there's only one of her." She says. "Besides, she's become something of a status symbol to the port, and I don't think I want to send it away when it's doing work as a beacon."

Springtime is generally the time where various towns and cities have the lowest food stocks, this year's winter notwithstanding. Those cities and towns have heard—either through official channels or simple hearsay—that the trading post with the Big Steel Ship has food and they're willing to sell. Most of the cities on the coastline therefore send ships to Traesto for their own larders and for reselling.

This increase in traffic naturally attracts eager Jugdral ships to try and ply the oceans. Though not entirely seaworthy, Jugdral ships are a class above Elibe ships, and so the Neverland has its hands full running patrols in Traesto's sphere of influence. Jugdral is pretty much why the ship has to stay around, since dead traders make for poor advertising.

Lloyd has additional reasons to why going via ocean is a bad idea. "Threats aside, we're still crossing into the trade zones of other nations through the coastline. The Neverland can outrun any blockade, but the same doesn't hold true for the local ships it escorts. If we're interdicted by, say, a fleet from Bern, we'd be in an unfortunate dilemma."

"What about that bigger ship?" Jaffar asks. "Surely the Boss would not object to sending it laden with goods."

"Rejected." Nino makes an x with her hands. "Ash's orders are explicit: Carriers go only to the Phoenix Trade Ports. We can't risk the possibility of them being boarded. Besides, there are only two ports in Elibe that are deep enough to handle a Carrier, and they're both here."

Lloyd nods. "Nevermind the host of other problems that would come with having to service such a sizable ship." He scratches his chin. "I have to say, it's a refreshing change to worry about problems that cannot be solved with simple violence."

"A damn lot harder, too." Jaffar grunts. "We wouldn't have to worry about the ships being lost if we could just kill the corrupted nobles and be done with it."

"That never really did anything, though." Nino sighs. "Every time you guys killed a corrupt noble, a new one just filled their place."

Lloyd has a combo of a wry smile and an agreeing scowl on his face. "And here I hoped you wouldn't find out about that."

Before the Black Fang was Nergal's third arm, it was a kind of Robin Hood organization, killing those who abused their power. Sadly, killing a corrupt noble doesn't change the fact that a town still needed leadership, and more often than not corruption is born from experience rather than bred…plus, corruption doesn't go away with just the removal of some key points.

Thus, by the time Nergal showed up, the Black Fang was being systematically abused by nobles cleverly manipulating information. The corrupt nobles they took down almost always resulted in a power shift in favor of a competing noble, even if the ones who called upon the ousting of the first noble was the public.

Incidentally, this was why Nergal took over the place: Brendan Reed was desperately seeking for a way to operate independently of Bern's nobility (since they relied on said nobles to keep the town garrisons from descending down on them) and Nergal had promised to provide exactly that kind of backing.

"I wish mother were here." Nino drops her head into the map again.

Lloyd found that strange. "You…do?"

"I miss her." Nino sighs. "At the very least she could show up rather than send _Ursula_ in her stead."

"Well, I'm sorry you think so little of me." Ursula scoffs from the doorway to Nino's office. "It was just a little attempted murder." She says coyly.

Nino rolls her eyes. "Ha." She says flatly. "My brothers are staking their reputation to vouch for you, you know?"

"And I'm very grateful for it." Ursula accedes politely. "But know that I care for power, and…well." She winks at Nino. "You've grown quite well."

Nino frowns a little. _Does she swing that way?_ "Besides," She rerails the conversation. "I would like to know exactly who's paying her to attack us."

"Oh, _darling_." Ursula says in the most condescending tone.

"I _know_ someone's out to get me." Nino snaps. "That part's not the question."

"Though I daresay they'll be in for quite the surprise if they tried." Jaffar grins in an exceedingly vicious fashion, adjusting his belt to show off his blade. "But…Sonja never cared much for you, Nino. You'd get better answers from the wind."

Nino deflates a little. "I'd like to at least hear what she has to say."

…

…

Around a month after the official start of spring, when Traesto became surrounded by rolling fields of (little) green, Nino received a strange message.

Like the good girl she is, she immediately reported it to Ash, through their networked information center.

 _This is really cool._ Nino inwardly cheers as the screen comes to life.

"What's up?" Ash says after he notes the connection was stabilized.

Nino suddenly found herself lost for words. "So…about the Elibe trading zone." She says haltingly. "We may have a bit of a problem."

Ash nods slowly. "Ok, go on."

Nino quickly describes the issue with overland routes and the lack of naval escorts for their ships.

"Huh." Ash scratches his chin. "Well, I can't say I figured something like that would happen, but we are sending in a transport with some new equipment that should help you with that problem."

Nino is confused.

"Overland routes have never really been all that effective." Ash adds. "So I made having better methods of land transportation a priority. You're getting the first batch of vehicles for field testing, so make good use of them."

"Yes sir." Nino salutes, still confused. "What are vehicles, though?"

"It'll make more sense to have the ground crew explain it when they get there." Ash says with a laugh. "So look forward to it."

Nino's confusion was never really addressed by the meeting.

…

Two weeks later her confusion was only slightly addressed by the incoming transport ship and its cargo of equipment.

"So what the hell are these?" Linus scowls.

In front of him were a dozen vehicles—trucks, in fact.

 _Eight trucks, two not-quite-trucks, and two definitely-not-trucks._

[The Trucks]

The Truck trucks were trucks of an Earth World War 2 appearance (American), with an (optional) clothed covered top and a maximum (theoretical) load of about four tons. Per requirements they were painted a dull shade of green with a faded white star on the side of the door. Seats two up front, but definitely more than two in the back.

The Not-Quite-Trucks were the same kind of trucks, but with an armored shell covering the back. Inside the shell is a suite of electronic equipment. Amazing by Fire Emblem standards, this truck—the Mobile Command Vehicle (MCV)—acts as the center of the convoy and provide sophisticated combat and navigational support as needed. Seats two in the front and up to six navigational personnel in the back. Unfortunately, the realities of having insufficient personnel means that the MCV is basically a rolling box of wires with one _really_ pissed off technician trying to figure everything out.

The Definitely-Not-Trucks are the Truck trucks but with the back replaced by a quad-barrel, quad-barrel-per-barrel swivel mounted cannon, making it something akin to a rolling gun battery. The Phoenix engineers decided to call it an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) because not only does it fight with Infantry, but it also would fight infantry. Seats one driver, one gunner, and two loaders. Unlike the other two Trucks, the IFV is armored, and is able to withstand ballistae bolts fired from point blank range.

All of the trucks were engineered by the Phoenix's Outrealm Engineers and use an electric setup, with power provided literally by magic. While their top speed of 20 miles per hour is rather poor, the trucks make up for it with basically infinite operation time.

While the Engineers would have liked to utilize the entire capabilities of the magic engine and go all the way up to 88 miles per hour, a decision that some Outrealmers agreed with enthusiastically, Ash ruled that longevity and operation strength should be prioritized and they got stuck with this "slow piece of crap".

…

"Ok, so how do they move?" Linus asks after hearing the above explanation for the fourth time.

The chief engineer (of the convoy) sighs and explains it to him again. Slower this time.

Nino ignores this hubbub in the background and runs her hand over the lead car—the MCV—and smiles. Something about it felt right to her.

"So this is how we're getting to Bulgar?" Lloyd wonders. "And this is as fast as a horse gallops?"

"Slower." A nearby engineer corrects him with a sad tone in his voice. "But that doesn't matter, 'cuz it goes forever."

"Well, faster than a horse can go with a load of cargo on its back." Lloyd corrects himself. "Lucky this came in at the right time."

Nino gives him a weird look. "We get regular ships every two weeks, how is this strange?"

"Fair point." Lloyd concedes. "We're now ready to go to Bulgar, then?"

Nino nods. "As soon as we're done loading, yeah."

Bulgar, the free trade city of Sacae (and just about the only one inland) was seeing quite a lot of visitors from Ilia, Etruria, and Lycia. Since Bern has closed borders with Lycia, it is one of the few overland routes to the Mouth (and by extension Traesto), and its status as the biggest trade hub of Sacae was certainly not harmed by the new traffic.

Unfortunately, this new traffic also brought about more bandits. Unwilling to compromise their independence to ask for help from Etruria nor Lycia, Bulgar settled on asking for help from the newcomer Phoenix Company to see if they could hire some mercenaries. Nino, not exactly able to spare manpower exclusively for someone else's security, came to a compromise: if Bulgar allowed the Phoenix to set up an inland trading post (read: let the Phoenix set up shop in their town) then the Phoenix would contribute to the defense of Bulgar as necessary.

This offer was then sweetened by an Etrurian city's addition to pay for a mercenary troop "until the crisis passed" with no strings attached. The city's logic was to help get themselves into the Phoenix's good graces and figured this was as good of a way as any. Nino, seeing a suspicious lack of immediate downsides, made her own decision and tentatively agreed.

Later Ash was like "yeah, ok, that's cool." When Nino reported it properly.

In retrospect, Nino thought, that might be why Ash expedited the truck building.

"So how much of a defensive presence is the Phoenix going to leave in Bulgar?" Lloyd asks conversationally.

"Likely none at all." Nino sighs. "We're too undermanned at this point. At best we'll have a…uh…'Parking Lot', and nothing else." She makes air quotes over Parking Lot.

Lloyd remembers that the thing she's mentioning is basically just flat land. "It's that bad, huh?"

"According to the plans for Traesto, we're currently at 20% essential staff." Nino nods. "So…yes." She shakes her head to get back on track. "But that's a problem for later." She eyes the MCV apprehensively.

"Yes." Lloyd agrees and also eyes the lead MCV apprehensively.

"It's not going to _eat_ you." The MCV's driver (an Outrealm Truck Driver we'll call Chuck because I want to) laughs. "Hop in."

Nino and Lloyd were going to go to Bulgar to map out the section of land that was going to be the Phoenix's branch via these new Trucks they had. Neither of them was all too thrilled at the prospect.

 _Linus was staying behind because, to quote him, "Bulgar wine is terrible."_

…

The trip to Bulgar was roughly 400 miles or so, resulting in a 20 hour journey spread over two days.

"Indeed, much faster than a horse-drawn wagon." Lloyd comments upon their arrival. "And far more comfortable." He is unaware but appreciative of Magic Truck Suspension.

"Goddamn." Chuck's the only one with a complaint. "You floor the damn thing the whole way and it only goes twenty. At least they gave us this." He gives a dial a pat. The dial is cruise control.

Lloyd leaves the safety of the MCV and stretches. "Now then…" He waves politely at the gaping guards. "How shall we approach this?"

Understandably, a convoy of eight trucks showing up at the doorstep of a town situated in Magical Medieval Mongolia would draw attention, the least of reasons being the existence of the trucks in the first place.

The low ranking guard stationed at the gate gaped as the eight truck convoy comes to a stop in the grassy plains before him. There are no parking rules, so the trucks are a bit haphazard in their arrangement. His jaws then unhinged further as people stepped out of the strange moving boxes.

"Well ain't this a hoot." Chuck grumbles. "Y'all go play with the suits now. I need to write a note to our Boss for a truck with more hustle."

Nino semi-understands his point. "I think this one is hustle enough?" She leaves the MCV, stumbling a little on the last step. "Hello!" She greets the guard cheerily. "We're here from the Mouth and would like to talk business."

The guard picks his jaw from the ground with some difficulty. "Uh…I'll…I…I'll need to fetch the Captain of the Guard." He makes a weak gesture towards the city.

"Please do." Nino bows politely.

The guard walks backwards, bump up against the wall, and then shuffle into the town, his gaze not leaving the trucks until it was obscured by the stone wall. He then sneaks one last confused and concerned look before actually doing his job.

"I can't say I blame him." Chuck grunts, having not moved from the MCV driver's seat. "So, girlie, what are we doin'?"

"Prepare the gifts." Nino orders. "And stay on standby."

"Aye to that." Chuck doesn't bother looking up from his pen and paper.

…

The Captain of the Guard shows up (along with some curious locals) and gapes much like the guard. Nino, like before, sweetly and politely tells him her job. He, like his subordinate, gapes some more before passing the message up the chain up to the mayor, who arrives a full hour later.

By now, what feels like half of the town's population has come to ogle at the strange boxes on wheels. Some of the braver and more curious ones come forward to examine in detail, though a firm but gentle word from Lloyd dissuades them further. After a few more minutes, the mayor of Bulgar arrives and promptly stops short.

"Ah….hem." The mayor expertly covers his surprise into a cough. "Welcome to Bulgar! I am her mayor, and I've heard that you are here for the purpose of long term business." He was alerted of the Phoenix's coming (the agreement was made in the final weeks of winter) but the speed of their arrival (and the trucks) surprised him.

"That we are, mister mayor." Nino curtseys. "I hope our arrival wasn't too obstructive."

"Not at all." The Mayor makes a grand gesture towards the gate of the town. "Business should be conducted at a more comfortable place. Please, this way."

Lloyd opens his mouth. He's not too comfortable at letting Nino go alone, even if she was armed.

A (dismounted) Pegasus Knight cuts off his complaint. "I'll go with her, so stay behind with the convoy."

"Yeah, Lloyd." Chuck grins from next to the MCV…and a small, light blue box. "Come enjoy a cold one with us."

Lloyd was a bit confused. "Alright, um…?" He frowns at the small knight at Nino's side.

"Thanks, Raf." Nino says, then smiles at Lloyd. "I'm counting on you to keep our assets safe, brother."

Nino and the veteran Pegasus Knight (callsign: Rafale Two) enter Bulgar while everyone else wait outside.

Lloyd, having nothing else to do, make his way back to Chuck and accept a bottle of beer.

 _Aluminum cans aren't a thing yet._

"And now we hurry up and wait." Chuck chuckles. "Think they're gonna backstab us?" He points his bottle to the walls of Bulgar.

"I highly doubt it." Lloyd smirks. "Though I have a small desire to see them try."

Chuck openly laughs at that. "You and me both."

"Maydar reaction." Someone inside the MCV announces conversationally.

Chuck and Lloyd share a slightly worried glance. The Magic Radar—Maydar—was designed to pick up magic signatures, and is primarily used for anti-air detection. The fact that it had a reaction worth noticing means they were dealing with a threat that was possibly substantial.

"I don't think I'm responsible for this." Chuck grunts. "What's the problem?" He calls out into the MCV's back room.

"Pegasus Knights, ten units, coming in from northwest of Bulgar." The back room operator reports calmly.

"Technically not from Bulgar." Lloyd preemptively defends himself. "Are they hostile?"

The officer shakes his head. "Don't think so. They're not flying fast enough for combat formations."

"Still, no point being dumb about this." Chuck sneaks underneath Lloyd and grabs the radio inside the car. "Lead car to convoy, we got bogeys comin' in low and fast. Get ready for a scrap, but keep your hands to yourselves until we tell you otherwise." The other vehicles click their radios in acknowledgement.

Lloyd watches the two IFVs angle their guns towards the sky and feel a sense of unease. He was a Swordmaster, and had full faith in his sword arm…but the gun on an IFV can kill a hundred of him without breaking a sweat. It was a little disheartening.

"Incoming." The backroom operator reports without much fanfare.

Lloyd scans the sky for the offending knights, and sees them in short order. The flight of ten Pegasus knights, divided into two groups of five, emerge from above the rooftops of the town buildings, and circle over the vehicles.

The leader of the Pegasus Knights, one Yuno (Juno?) of the 18th Ilian Pegasus Wing Detachment, peer down at the strange boxes with worry. She's especially wary of two of the objects, both of which house strange-looking tubes that seemed to be following her movement.

"What are those things?" Her wingwoman asks. "I've never seen anything like it before."

"I don't know." Another knight comments. "But I don't like the look of those tubes. Gives me the creeps."

"Since they're not trying to shoot at us, I assume they're friendly." Yuno says. "Let's land."

So they do. They make some respectable distance between themselves and the boxes then touch down on the ground.

Yuno finds the person in charge (who she assumes to be Lloyd) and walks to greet him. "Hello." She salutes. "I am Yuno, provisional captain of this 18th Wing Detachment force."

Lloyd returns a salute used by Bern soldiers. "Lloyd, provisional guard of the convoy." He says. "Are you girls tasked to Bulgar?"

"That we are." Yuno nods. "Recently, Bulgar has seen increased threats by the raiders from Jugdral, and they wanted some professional help."

 _You don't look the part._ Lloyd notes wryly. Yuno was very young, younger than Nino, actually (though only by a little). "Having a presence in the air is sure to calm their spirits." He says instead.

"I thought so too." Yuno pouts, her previous air of professionalism gone. "But there're only ten of us because the captain thought it would be better to have more back in Ilia. It's a good thing nothing serious has happened yet, because if it did I don't know if we'd have the manpower to stop it…"

"Is the 18th the only Wing operating in the area?" Lloyd asks.

Yuno ticks off her fingers. "18th,25th, and the entirety of the 4th Wing." She smiles. "There's about a hundred knights stationed in Bulgar." _Nevermind that all of them won't be here for another month._ She adds internally.

 _If memory serves…_ Lloyd reaches into his memory for the last time he saw a read of Bulgar's defenses. _Bulgar's wartime levy is around three thousand troops, with a guard of two hundred men. They probably have a little more now._ He files this info away to the back of his mind.

"Wait a second." Yuno's wingwoman suddenly says. "I know you…you're Lloyd Reed!" She points (rather rudely) to Lloyd.

Yuno, not as caught up on the exploits of the Black Fang, simply looks at her wingwoman with confusion.

"That I am." Lloyd bows politely. "Though I should note that my days of sneaking around are a bit behind me."

"New contacts." The backroom electronics officer inside the MCV calls out, making everyone jump. "Forty newcomers from the southwest, likely hostile."

Lloyd's instantly on guard. "How can you tell?"

"Whatever the hell's coming, it's not alive." The officer says darkly.

Everyone is suitably confused at that statement.

"Well, shit." Chuck grabs the radio again. "New bogies coming in from vector one-three-five, likely bandits. Everybody, keep your shirts on, 'cuz it's gonna get dirty."

"Why?" Lloyd shakes his head at Chuck's commentary. He then flips the radio in his own ear. "Nino, we have possible hostiles approaching Bulgar. What are your orders?"

 _"Wow, the White Wolf's taking orders from somebody else?" The Wingwoman marvels. "Also, who's he talking to?"_

There's a brief pause before Nino's reply comes through. "Have the IFVs prepare to interdict as necessary. Tactical command will go to the MCV."

"Understood." Lloyd acknowledges and repeats her orders.

…

The intruders, in this case, were a flight of Wyvern Riders with golden eyes, Morphs. Strictly speaking, they weren't supposed to target Bulgar—Sonja hasn't given them such a specific goal—but they're in range of the city, and something in the city has triggered their attack patterns.

Hence, they're going in.

The Morphs fly in formation similar to Bern's Knights, and soon had the walls of Bulgar in their sights. When they were five minutes out from reaching the city proper—the normal time in Elibe for fliers to begin picking zones of interest—they started to hear things flying past their ears.

If Morphs had the ability to critically think, they would find the situation worrying. As it is, they simply do not care, even if two of the forty suddenly exploded for no reason.

On the ground near Bulgar, things were a tad different.

"Second barrage clear, two strikes, no explosions." A gunner reports with worry. "Repeat, we have no explosions. What the fuck?"

Suffice to say the rounds being sent towards the Morphs really should have exploded. They were supposed to be proximity detonation fuses, designed to explode next to a living element with a magical signature that doesn't carry the signal of the Phoenix IFF. Given that morphs don't really fit in the 'living' part of that requirement, the rounds therefore zip by and are only dangerous through contact.

Lloyd wastes no time. "Nino, we have a problem with the rounds." He reports quickly.

"What the fuck?" Nino echoes the gunner. "Switch to fixed distance munitions and continue intercept." As their name implies, Fixed Distance Rounds explode at fixed distances.

The convoy gunners switch ammo types and do as they're told. The skies near the morphs fill with explosions almost immediately. The explosions also draw the attention of the Bulgar residents, who, understandably, are utterly confused at the situation because they haven't seen anybody come into visual range yet. The flurry of explosions mauls the Morphs in seconds, leaving just one alive.

The Morph, having zero ability to retreat unless otherwise ordered, zips over Bulgar and gives a few people pause.

It is then unceremoniously shot by a Phoenix soldier with exceptional aim. "And now _you_ owe me a beer." The soldier smirks to his friend.

And so that problem is solved.

…

The Morph attack aside, Nino managed to secure a free trade agreement with Bulgar, and a parcel of land not far from the city's walls (but rather off the beaten path) was cordoned off for the Phoenix's use.

"This land is literally atrocious." A geologist attached to the convoy says after finishing his survey. "They gave us bad land."

Nino can't help but wonder. "Is that really a problem?"

"Only if you intend on planting a garden." The geologist grins. "We can Infuse the terrain if need be, though I don't think you're all that interested at the moment."

Nino was indeed not interested in turning the camp into viable farmland.

…

The Phoenix expedition marked off their area with some stakes and rope, and then they set about to their business: foisting off their work onto the Etrurian caravan.

The Etrurian noble was suitably apologetic. "As much as we'd like to simply have you transport all of this to our city directly, it would attract too much attention."

"I'm not keen on getting into a fight with Tara, either." Nino had stated in reply. "So best of luck in your travels."

Etruria had a deal with Tara, the Phoenix did not. While it was entirely within the realm of possibility for the Phoenix to run the armed convoy down the road and mow down everything that came near it, everyone agreed that, at the very least, it would have been a waste of ammo.

And thus they had business. Bulgar, as a major trading city in Sacae, had one problem: it lacked meaningful local production. In many ways, it was a city built on reputation more than anything else. The Phoenix fixed that little problem—Bulgar merchants would purchase from the Phoenix at lower prices than their competition, and then resell it in their own shops.

After the Phoenix's arrival, the attacks from the mysterious enemies (the morphs) became more frequent. They appeared on two week intervals. The Phoenix also appeared on two week intervals. Most people connected that dot, but then paid no more attention because the Phoenix would just mow down the morphs with relative ease.

With that, spring turns to summer.

The Phoenix and Bulgar mutually grew in those two months, and the increase in foot traffic to the Mouth swelled the trading post to the seams. It helped that Nino was told to keep a tight clamp on the amount of residents going into the city, and thus no new construction was erected without express permission (or else Linus would come in and smush the new place). That said, the population of the trading post more than quintupled—nobody ever said multiple people can't live in the same house.

It was…not conducive, to the health of the trading post. Nino tried to enforce order to the best of her ability, but the lack of manpower made things impossible.

Ash had promised her that a fix was coming, but it was expected at the start of fall, which is another two months away.

So Nino was understandably a little bit overworked and under-rested. Akatsuki would say that she's under-something else, too, if Jaffar would just stop glaring at her.

On top of everything, local security suddenly took a nosedive. For the better part of a month, random murders began happening in the street, caused by people with glowing eyes and black hair. Nino can't out and out say why they're here, because she's not sure either. She has already alerted the city to the presence of the 'morphs' and have tasked local mages into finding a counter, but…again, two months.

"Why is everything two months?!" Nino rages at the heavens.

Thanks to the morphs, the streets are no longer safe to walk in during broad daylight. However, the rather brazen murders make it clear that someone or something is attempting to sabotage the trading post, and thus caused an actual increase in local unity.

…

On one night, Nino snaps awake.

Something was terribly wrong. The moon was terribly bright in that night, and the light causes her to have a panic attack that only goes away after she squeezes her eyes and chant to herself for a solid minute.

"Cap! We're under attack!" She hears someone yell from somewhere. She hops out of bed, grabs her gear (a pocket spellbook) and race out.

Almost immediately she runs face-first into a Morph Swordmaster.

"Oh jeez!" Nino backpedals fast as the Swordmaster wheels around. "That surprised me." She then unceremoniously blows its head up with a Fire. A few Morphs later and she enters the Traesto's command room.

"Of course this is the one place that's empty." She slams her hand on the buttons marked "emergency call" and "full alert". The screen she uses to communicate with Ash glows to life just as Traesto begins to fill with the warbling of an alarm.

Someone who's not Ash shows up. "Hi, Ni-oh my goodness." She says and coyly covers her mouth.

"Sorry, Tiki, but I'm in a hurry." Nino, still in her underwear (only panties), says. "Somebody just infiltrated us and I could use a little help."

Tiki frowns. "I can get there, but it would take me a full day. You'll have the problem sorted out by then, I assume."

"I think so." Nino nods. "I just want a little help in case it happens again."

"What's going on?" Ash says somewhere offscreen. "Nino's calling at this hour?"

Nino's now feeling a little self-conscious.

"She's naked from the waist up." Tiki reports rather lazily.

Ash completely ignores it. "Ok, but why is she calling?"

"Morphs." Nino says quickly.

"Son of a fuck." Ash says (still offscreen). "I'll have the teleportation shield expedited but we're still looking at two weeks minimum."

"Ash, I'm looking for advice." Nino snaps. "Where's this attack coming from? You sounded like you knew something when you sent me home."

"I have no clue, but I have some guesses." Ash says slowly. "First patch up your defenses; the two of us will be there tomorrow with some extra equipment."

"Yes sir." Nino says sulkily, salutes Tiki (who winks in reply) and disconnects. She bolts back to her own room, grabs her coat, a pistol, and makes her way outside.

The Traesto headquarters is pretty much the most well-defended building on the continent of Elibe, and having enemies teleport inside doesn't change that fact. Between the guns, the staff, and the Stars, the main base structure was secured in a matter of minutes.

By the time Nino left the building, the areas where the Phoenix conduct their business (headquarters, dockyards, armory) were already back under control, and the more mobile of the teams (like Stars) were tearing their way through the rest of the city to hunt down the Morphs with the help of some of the more eager townfolk.

But the problem wasn't solved.

The Morph attack began midnight and continued until midday. Small groups of Morphs continue to appear at random locations in and around Traesto and continuously raise hell. After a good twelve hours of constant urban warfare, one side is incredibly tired and both are incredibly irritated.

"This sucks!" Akatsuki yells into the rainy sky. "Everything about this sucks!" She skims the rooftops with her M20 and Jacket Armor.

A pair of Morph Pegasus Knights teleport into existence in a nearby street and she immediately flits over, jumping across the rooftops. She sights them through their magical signatures and then mows them down with a burst of firepower.

"Command, I've intercepted two more popup targets." Akatsuki reports after a wide yawn. "Any more?"

As a temporary measure, the Phoenix scattered detectors all over the city and connected them to the spider web network. The detectors read incoming pulses of teleportation magic and reports it back to the main command room, which then tasks teams of interception units to mop up the Morphs before they could carry out their plan, whatever it may be.

Naturally, they can't be everywhere at once, and many Morphs—at least half of the drops—did manage to cause some kind of havoc. Most of the time they tried to set fires, which is also a reason why the Morph side was angry.

The Morphs being sent to set fires were almost if not always failing despite actually setting a few fires. This greatly irritated the one person in the Morph army that seemed to have a mind. This person managed to sneak into Traesto before the attack began, and was arguably why the attack began in the first place.

"What incredible incompetence." That person now seethes, strolling down the empty streets of the city while clad in a large, black cloak. "How is it that the past twelve hours have given me no results?!"

"We await them—" An escorting Morph begins to say.

"Yes, yes, Dennis, shut up." The person snaps. "Save it for when you see them."

(Elibean) Teleportation was a spell that required two components: a starting point, and an ending point. The starting point of this large scale attack was…wherever the Morphs were starting from. The ending point was right here, owing to this person. Owing to her skill in the magical arts, she could place target nodes through the entire city without having to approach it, successfully masking her position and allowing the attack to last for as long as it did.

She was, however, getting tired. Normally, this would not be a problem, because tired people will do a thing called "resting" and then become less tired after a while. She was _not_ a normal person. She was _perfect,_ and perfect people do not get 'tired'.

Thus, even while tired, she continued to channel nodes at full power, and her ego stopped her from seeing that her teleportation receptors were not hitting as far or as varied as she thought they were.

Nino, also tired and stressed out from constant patrol and interception, heard another targeting request. The position was very close to where she was so she decides to go and handle it. Thus, she finds the road where the Morphs supposedly teleported in, kick down the door to the house they ran into, and exterminate them with extreme magical prejudice. She then sulkily marks the house for repainting later.

"This is endless." Nino grumbles as she leaves the house and return to the main street. "Nino here, I took care of the ones at F-5." She yawns, having not gotten any more sleep (or a chance to change) since she woke up. "How's it looking?"

As she's listening to the situation report, she takes a corner and run into the mysterious person (plus Dennis).

"Sorry about that." Nino says with as much sincerity as she can manage in her tired state. "But you should really be indoors." She sidesteps the person and keeps going.

The person, meanwhile, was in a bit of shock.

Nino moves ahead for ten paces before something slams into her back, sending her sprawling towards the ground.

"What the fuck, man?" Nino says into the smoothed stone floor. "We have enough problems as it is." She slowly picks herself up.

"You should watch your tongue." The person snaps. "Especially when you're speaking to your parents." She throws off her hood.

Nino turns and sees that the person in question is in fact Sonja, her mother.

Nino's reaction can be described as 'incredibly tepid'. "Mother, I have a problem on my hands right now, so can you go to the headquarters building and wait?" She says. "I don't know if you realized, but we're being invaded right now."

Sonja was not used to being spoken to in such a dismissive manner. "Ex- _cuse_ me?"

Nino, now slightly less sleepy, begins to put two and two together. "…Did you just shoot me in the back?" She asks slowly.

"What of it?" Sonja says, relishing in her turn to be dismissive. She entirely forgets the fact that the person she just shot in the back was completely unhurt.

"…You just shot your daughter in the back." Nino says, clarifying for her own sake.

"I shot a mongrel in the back." Sonja corrects her imperiously. "I thought the Reed brothers would have made it clear to you by now."

"We're not seeing any new contacts on the system." Nino hears over her radio.

She frowns then taps her radio. "All available units are to converge on my position."

Sonja frowns, because that sounded an _awful_ lot like an order. Not thirty seconds later, she hears a trio of wind-like sounds somewhere over her head.

Akatsuki, Hibiki, and Inazuma arrive on three different rooftops and ready their M20s. Moments later, a Truck arrives as well. It discharges the Reed brothers and about a dozen mercenaries they had rounded up for the defensive effort.

"Nino! What ha…" Lloyd says as soon as he steps off the Truck, trailing off as he sees Sonja. "Mother." He acknowledges slowly.

"Why haven't you killed her yet?" Sonja asks, completely exasperated and utterly unaware of the current situation.

The pair of Swordmasters (of the local variety) flanking Lloyd almost drew their weapons.

"I've had a change of heart." Lloyd says coldly. "Mother, what are you doing here?" He asks, then notices Dennis. "And who is he?"

"This is a message from Lord Nergal. 'I await you on the Dread Isle.'" Dennis says mechanically and readies his bow.

"Morph IDed, permission to engage." Akatsuki whispers over the radio.

"Lord Nergal? Who the fuck is Lord Nergal?" Linus grumbles.

"It's good to know you've never stopped hitting your head, Mad Dog." Sonja sneers, causing Linus to draw his weapon. "Am I to assume that you've been corrupted by the mongrel as well?"

"Permission to engage." Hibiki asks with deadly calmness, her M20 sighted dead-center at Sonja's head.

"First off, she's your kid." Linus says. "Second, I've never felt better. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm walking and fighting again."

Sonja, despite seeing it, certainly did not care one bit. "It's a miracle." She says flatly, her sneer still on her face. "Should we find the nearest shrine and pray?"

"Mom, what are you doing here? Why are you here?" Nino asks, now fully aware. "Why did you shoot me?"

"Call it an instinct, darling." Sonja says, her smirk turning even nastier. "Nergal wants this place gone, and I'm just doing my job."

"Lloyd, who the hell's Nergal?" Nino asks.

"First time I've heard the name." Lloyd says. "Though I assume him to be the reason behind the Fangs' changed directions." He blinks. "Where is father?"

"Out of the picture." Sonja says dismissively. "He's been gone for a while, you know?"

Lloyd drew his sword, his anger so evident that the Swordmasters around him flinched and pulled back.

"I don't think I have all the information here, but I think I've heard enough." Nino says coldly. "I don't think we'll be missing much from here." Electricity begins to crackle around her hands.

Sonja laughs, then readies her own charges of electricity. "And here I hoped you learned a little sense, mongrel. You should know better than to fight against perfection." She channels her magic power into a Bolting tome and lets it loose over Nino's head.

The Bolting, a massive spike of thunder magic, impacts Nino's head. Through the smoke and crackling it does no damage.

"…is that it?" Nino says, noticeably disappointed. "Mother, I thought you were…better, than this."

Nino grew up in Akanea during a time where the entire country was in danger of being overrun by vapor zombies, and she fought alongside and learned from the best of them. Suffice to say a little magic from some self-assured Sage doesn't faze her in the slightest, nevermind that the magic she was just hit with was the strongest long range spell in Elibe.

 _Eclipse doesn't count since it a) halves health and thus technically has no power and b) can only hit a target if it was held down by vats upon vats of superglue._

"…What?" Sonja's eyes are wide in shock. Her anger then returns in full fury, and she fires another Bolting at Nino.

Nino blocks with a shield of layers of hexagrams. The Bolting strikes the shield, dissolves into strands of light, and flows into Nino's body.

"I think you're _severely_ underestimating the capabilities of the Phoenix, mother." Nino sighs. "I would rather that you surrender, all things considered."

Sonja was now incredibly angry. She was _perfect,_ and perfect does not suffer the indignity of having her powers marginalized. She charges up Fimbulvetr, the strongest ice magic available to Elibe.

Nino's response is to stand and blink sleepily. "Can we get coffee later?" She asks Lloyd conversationally.

Sonja concentrates the magical power of her spell at Nino's feet and releases it with a snap of her fingers. Massive chunks of ice erupt from the ground and propel Nino's cloak upwards and into the sky.

"Why hasn't anyone given her a shirt until now?" Linus sighs and takes off his coat. "Here." He tosses it into the icicles.

"Thanks." Nino, red-faced, takes the cloak and dons it. She then snaps her fingers into the air.

A Thoron with all the power and weight of an anachronistic freight train sail into the sky, high over the heads of everyone present.

"I'm very glad I'm not on the side facing that." Akatsuki mutters. She had instinctively placed a wall of magical power between her and the flying thoron despite being nowhere near it and still felt half of the wall bleed off.

Sonja and Dennis both collapse at almost the same time.

"What the—" Nino takes a step forward and puts a hand to her ear. "Get a medical detail to my position." She demands.

"New teleport signature." Her radio says instead. "It's on you, Captain."

Nino immediately backpedals in case if the person teleporting in literally landed on her. The person lands some steps before Sonja and Dennis.

Nino scowls at this newcomer, clad in his rolling black robes and stupid fucking turban(So Sayeth Nino™), and makes a snap decision. "Fire, fire, fire!"

The sudden appearance of the new intruder caught everyone by surprise, and it took them a second to get their bearings straight. This second allowed the robed intruder to coat the entire area with a seeping cloud of dark magic.

Nino's response was to create a massive blast of wind magic that pressed everyone down onto the floor, the cloud included. This stops the cloud but also makes it rather hard for everyone to follow her shoot order.

This show of magic was apparently against the intruder's expectations, and he spins to glare at Nino.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Nino demands. "Stand down and disarm or you will be destroyed!"

The intruder doesn't answer. He simply glances into the sky before disappearing again with a swirl of his cloak.

"Ok, we need that fucking teleport shield right the fuck now." Nino says with a snarl. "Until then, lock down the GOD FUCKING DAMMIT" She yells as another teleport beam strikes before her. Fair to say she's suffering from the long day. It was a lot easier when she was *just* a combat mage, rather than the leader of an entire town.

The result of this particular teleport was an elderly man.

"Oh my, what language." The man chuckles. "It seems like I have caught you at a bad time."

"Who are you?" Nino snaps, way angrier than she probably should be. "Explain yourself this instant _or I swear to Grima—"_

"Wait a moment." Lloyd realizes. "Aren't you Athos, the Archsage of Nabata?"

"He exists?" Linus has only seen such a character in books of fiction.

 _By the way: total headcanon that Elibe(Lycia) in particular has shittons of Eliwood/Hector slash fic. Bern does Zephiel/Guinevere. Sacae does Everybody/Their Horse._

"I do exist." Athos says with a laugh. "I felt a strong magical presence, and so I decided to investigate." He glances around. "I see Nergal was here only moments before."

"The weird, cloaked guy? Yeah." Nino replies cautiously. "What's your connection with him? He took mother and that Morph with him, too." She adds upon realizing that fact.

"He is the creator of the Morphs." Athos says simply. "Through the use of magic that should not be tapped by man."

Nino is unimpressed.

"What are the Morphs, anyways?" Linus asks. "They all have that fucking creepy look."

"We can discuss this later." Nino says dismissively. "All units are to secure the perimeter. If there are no more targets coming in by tomorrow, we'll sound the all-clear."

"You're quite careful." Athos says with a small chuckle. "Fear not, for as long as I am here, Nergal will not attempt to do anything rash."

Nino was skeptical. "I'll believe it when I see it. All units, proceed as I ordered."

…

In the end, the all clear was sounded two hours later upon the arrival of Ash and Tiki.

"You're fine." Ash says when Nino asks for orders. "Go talk to Athos; we'll handle the defense from here."

So she does.

Athos was given a guest room in the Headquarters, though Nino found him perusing the attached library instead.

"There is quite a collection of exotic tales here." Athos says as Nino enters the library. "Though I imagine them to be of a similar kind."

"…Sure?" Nino wasn't sure what he was talking about. "I have some questions, and I want them answered before I go to bed."

Athos takes her snappiness in stride. "Of course, if you'll allow me a question in return."

The two go to a meeting room (complete with a long table and an excessive amount of chairs). The Stars and the Reed brothers are also in attendance at Ash's behest.

"Before we begin, who were the two that arrived earlier?" Athos asks.

"You weren't outside." Linus says, scowling. Lloyd had tasked him as Athos's temporary bodyguard, as useless of a task as that turned out to be.

"Indeed. I could feel their power." Athos says. "They are…formidable. I feel a thousand years younger in their presence."

Lloyd was the only one in the room to understand the hint.

"You can talk to 'em after we're done here." Nino says, stifling a yawn. "Boss and his wife are super informal."

Athos chuckles. "I'm glad to hear that; now, what do you wish to know?"

…

"So the Morphs are just human-like shells?" Lloyd summarizes. "That's…"

Athos nods. "I was caught off guard by the amount of progress that Nergal had made."

Nino was in a bit of shock at the revelation that Sonja is also a Morph, and was temporarily rendered voiceless. Her being at the limit of her stamina probably had something to do with that too.

"Things sound pretty easy for us, though." Linus smirks. "They're at the Dread Isle. We sail the Neverland to the Dread Isle, and then we kick their asses so hard they'll fart through the mouth."

"Please excuse him." Lloyd sighs.

"No, no, I rather enjoyed the mental image." Athos laughs. "What is the Neverland?"

"It's the ship docked at port." Lloyd explains. "But can we really leave the city unguarded for the duration? What if they come back?"

"Considering the circumstances, Nergal should be mustering his defenses for the attack he believes is coming." Athos says. "He has become, above all else, extremely careful about the actions of others."

 _Because you tried to kill him._ Lloyd says in his head. "So there will be no chance of an attack on Traesto?"

"There better not be." Ash's voice says from the door. He walks through the opened door after given the frame a courtesy knock. "Yo."

"Your Majesty." Lloyd stands and nods as a salute. He and Inazuma were the only ones to do so.

"At ease." Ash says, wanting to tell him to chill but choosing to let Lloyd do a little political theater. "You must be Archsage Athos." He says formally. "I'm Ash, one of the heads of the Phoenix Empire."

"Tiki, the same." Tiki says, entering the room after him.

"I see the two of you are…of immense power." Athos says slowly.

"We have our secrets." Ash says cheerily. "As do you, no doubt." He turns serious. "In any event, I'll take care of base defense while you're out."

Lloyd glances at Tiki.

"I still have outstanding work in Jugdral." Tiki explains. "But I'll offer support as necessary should it be needed."

"The new world?" Athos strokes his beard. "I would dearly love to visit it someday."

"We can arrange for a ship for you when the time is convenient." Tiki offers.

"Yeah." Ash rerails the conversation. "I'll handle base defense, so the lot of you get some rest. I imagine you'll want to begin operations against Nergal by tomorrow morning."

"Is that not a touch too soon?" Athos says.

"If we didn't just come out of a goddamn defensive siege I would be attacking right now." Nino says with a wide yawn. "Oh my god I'm tired."

"Go sleep." Ash laughs. "You deserve it."

"Mm." Nino stumbles to her feet and give Jaffar a quick kiss before tottering off to bed. Jaffar turns red and shrugs off an annoying rib jab from a grinning Akatsuki. He does, however, take her hint and excuses himself.

"Your highness, I have a question." Lloyd asks as soon as Nino's out of hearing range. "Did you know about Nergal? Was that why you had this 'anti-teleportation shield' created?"

"I had a hunch." Ash admits. "We had issues with teleporting enemies back in Akanea, so I figured having some kind of permanent countermeasure would be prudent. I brought the prototype with me here and it's running off of my magic power, but finding a more permanent solution has been…difficult."

"A hunch?" Linus scowls. "You could've told us, or else tracked Nergal down by yourself."

"Yeah, but the goal is to have this location be self-sustaining." Ash replies. "I'm not the kind of person who enjoys bailing you out of an otherwise solvable situation."

"What will you do if Nergal summons a dragon?" Athos asks lightly.

Ash's response surprised him. "Nothing. Nino can handle it fine."

"You're assuming too much." Lloyd says with a note of worry.

"You think?" Ash grins.

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes: Next one's the last one~


	4. Attacking With the Shop

{ === + === }

Nino would have loved to give chase to Nergal, and she had the Neverland halfway prepared for deployment when an offhand comment from Linus stopped her.

"Oh, you're running?" He says, genuinely surprised that she would flee.

"I'm going to chase down Nergal and shoot him in the head." Nino explains, realizing that Linus was right, even though he himself didn't seem to notice.

That is: regardless of how effective the Phoenix defense have been, people will talk if the head of state leaves mere minutes after the attack had ended. Moreover, people will _definitely_ talk if said head of state take the town's one symbol of power with her, for no explained reason.

"She's not the head of state, though." Akatsuki pointed out. "The Boss is."

"She isn't," Lloyd agreed. "But His highness Ash isn't very well known to the people of Traesto, and so they'll see her as the one in charge, not him."

Thus, Nino, unwilling to create an environment that would destabilize Traesto and make work harder in the future, decided to postpone the attack until the domestic situation settled down. She was not happy about this.

She was, eventually, cheered up by the promise of new equipment that Ash had developed specifically for her. Ash didn't have it built _specifically_ for her, but the difference is splitting hairs, really.

…

[Three Days Later]

…

A trio of lords (along with an entourage) from Lycia arrives at the Mouth after travelling overland through Bern and Sacae.

"That's…different." Lyn muses.

Their trip through Bern (a semi-hostile nation to Lycia) required that they travel incognito as a band of mercenaries rather than the lords that they were. Through the help of a friendly member of the Black Fang remnant (maintained by Lloyd with Nino's agreement under a new name) they were able to travel through the country without issue and at a rapid pace. The group then joined a caravan set for the Sacaean village of Narae.

Narae, if situations were different, would be a major city. If Sacae had any major cities and a robust system of international trade, Narae would have been a major city. It sits at the turning point of the river of Bern that eventually leads to the Mouth and, were Bern interested in trading over land, be deeply advantageous to sending wares inland to Sacae, or from Sacae to Bern. As reality would have it, Narae's population barely topped two hundred, and it was, for all intents and purposes, a poor fishing village scraping by on the poor, Sacaean soil.

…Or at least that's how Lyn remembered the place from the last time she saw it.

Narae grew. The village, which was never very organized to begin with, now had a distinctive main street that was far wider than it had any right to be, along with an area that seemed to have been roped off for some unknown purpose. Nearby village traders set up stalls to hawk their goods, patronized by Sacaean tribespeople which, based on her estimation of their gear, had to be operating within the region.

Furthermore, the village now had three massive storage yards stocked to the brim with foodstuffs that were definitely not local to the region. To be fair, it wasn't as if Narae couldn't bloom into a city on its own right, but the change was far too sharp to be considered natural. Local wealth seemed to have skyrocketed, and, to her greatest surprise, did not seem to come with a corresponding drop in security.

For the rest of the party, the strangest thing they saw was the visible release of tension from the other travelers in their caravan. Narae, again, was never sizable enough to project any kind of military power, and even after its growth it still wasn't big enough to do so. So…why?

"If I may ask, what is this place?" Eliwood asked a mercenary after seeing his visible relaxation.

"This? This is Narae." The Mercenary replied. "Apart from the Mouth, this is the safest place around here."

Lyn was curious as to why. "Really?"

"You guys aren't from around here, so I'll tell ya." The Mercenary said with a knowing smirk. "There's a trading town near the Mouth that's been sending out convoys to Bulgar. It passes through here every so often and brings more stuff than this village can take. That convoy also keeps everybody dangerous away, so the Golden Road to Bulgar is the safest thing in Sacae right now."

"'Golden Road to Bulgar'…" Eliwood repeats. "It sounds quite opulent."

The three lords' convoy stayed in Narae for an hour or so to resupply and relax (the horses) before heading off again. Though they never saw the mythical convoy or anything Golden about the road, they did note the general feeling of optimism all along the path, which…was fairly unusual for peasants in Sacae. Peasants who were not part of a Sacean warband tended to have lives that were miserable and/or short.

They arrive at the Mouth at the cusp of night, sleep, and make for the town of Traesto in the morning.

Which catches us up to the present.

Lyn's vision is entirely taken by the orchard—orchards—that dotted the outside of Traesto.

"Is that normal?" Hector asks upon following Lyn's line of sight.

"No, Sacaean soil is remarkably poor for farming." Lyn replies excitedly. "The reason why Bulgar is so large is because it's sitting at one of the few places where you _can_ farm at all."

"Interesting." Eliwood takes mental note. "Perhaps we can learn more from them than just Nergal's recent actions." His home, Pharae, was small, and it could certainly benefit from any advancements in agriculture that this new trade town brought.

The three lord's group travels along the short path from the Mouth to Traesto, marveling at the fertile and lush fields of crops on the way, until they hear the sounds of clashing wood somewhere ahead of them.

"Oh, are they training?" Hector says appreciatively. "It's a good day for it." He glances at the clear, blue sky.

The group crests the last small hill and sees…a small group of a few dozen guards and some little girls apparently trying to kill each other with oversized wooden sticks. Apparently the little girls were winning.

"Excuse me!" Hector yells loudly as they approach. "We're looking for a person in charge!"

Akatsuki gives the stop signal for the recruit she was busy training and turns to face Hector. "Who are you?" She asks rudely as the recruit collapses to catch his breath. _Red, blue, green hair…red knight, yellow knight, archer, healer, two peg knights, maybe, and two civilians._ She tallies in her head.

"We're mercenaries." Eliwood says quickly as it seemed like Hector was about to pick a fight. "We heard about this place having some troubles and are here to help in some way."

"Hmm." Akatsuki…could care less. She has a lot on her plate right now and isn't about to overthink it. "Alright, get in line; you're not the only mercenary looking for a job here and you're not gonna be the last." She sighs.

"Get in…line?" Lyn repeats cautiously.

Akatsuki jerks a thumb to the thirty-some people waiting. "Yeah, I don't care what you say you're good at, we put you through the paces to see if you're just running your mouth, and if you're actually decent then we put you on payroll." She sighs again. "Fuckin' manpower deficiencies." She hasn't gotten enough sleep lately and has thus been quite cranky.

"So what happens if we win?" Hector asks with a smirk.

"Then you get a sandwich." Akatsuki yawns. "The only rule here is that you can't use a blow that would be fatal regardless of the weapon type used."

Eliwood sees where this is going and wants to stop it before Hector makes the situation awkward. Unfortunately…

"Ok, cool." Hector says. "So bring out the big man, little girl, I want a piece."

Akatsuki raises her eyebrows at him. "You're looking at the 'big man'." She says with plenty of warning in her voice. Behind her, the other four hurriedly stop their sparring sessions and get everybody to back the fuck up.

"Oh really?" Hector says in a tone that clearly suggests he didn't know what he just got himself into. "Never would have guessed. You're so…tiny." Akatsuki goes up to the middle of Hector's chest *at best*. Hector's a big dude, after all. "Are you sure you should be doing this?"

"Uh-oh." Everybody on the Phoenix side of this conversation says.

Akatsuki sighs again. "Oh, good, another moron with a fucking ego." She snaps her fingers towards a crate of wooden weapons. "Get one that you like and come here. I was in a good mood, so I'll just break your legs."

"She's really angry, isn't she?" Eliwood asks Lyn in a whisper as Hector confusedly goes to get a training axe.

"That little kid is beyond angry right now." Lyn replies, also in a whisper. "Hector must've hit a soft spot. Farina, maybe you should restrain your husband?"

"Hey, his mouth getting himself into trouble is a staple characteristic of the Marquis of Ostia." Farina (blue-haired Pegasus knight) says lazily. "Having somebody other than me smack him around a little is a refreshing change of pace."

"Inazuma, call Boss or something and have them come here before Akatsuki pastes him." Hibiki says.

"So…oh dear." Hector says, having picked a replica of a giant warrior's axe. "Are you sure about this?"

Akatsuki has a small stick. "I'm a mage knight, so watch it."

"Suuure." Hector stretches a little to get himself warmed up. "There's exactly one thing about fighting that never changes, though."

"Really?" Akatsuki rallies her magic power and gathers an explosive burst at the bottom of her feet. She then bullets towards Hector and sinks her fist deep into his sternum with a full-powered punch, sending the much bigger man reeling. "If you're worried about weight class, don't."

Hector takes a seething breath. "Duly noted." He retaliates with an excessively fast swing of his axe. Akatsuki, caught off-guard, barely parries with a wind-based shield. The hit sends her flying anyway. Though flying, Akatsuki was not very surprised, and maintains her positioning well enough to land on her feet. With a feral grin, she charges right in for round two.

"Wow." Lyn marvels as the little girl dukes it out with Hector. "She's good."

"Hector's on the back foot for once." Eliwood notes. "This is a surprise."

"It's 'cuz this axe is too light!" Hector complains loudly. Akatsuki kicks him in the chest for his momentary distraction, and his return hit was solidly blocked.

"Oh, this is a surprise." Eliwood hears a familiar voice behind him. He turns to see a pair of old friends arrive on horseback. "Good afternoon." The silvery haired man greets him warmly while the blond, friendly-looking woman waves.

"Good afternoon, Count Pent." Eliwood replies with a polite bow. "You're quite far from Etruria." He observes.

"Yes, I have business here." Pent says, sharing in Eliwood's politeness and picking up on his subtly projected desire for a lack of title recognition. "What about you?"

"Something similar, I expect." Eliwood says.

Hector gives off a roar that shakes the field and slams his axe into Akatsuki's side.

"And this is…?" Pent asks with a frown as Akatsuki gives off an equally spirited (if not as loud) roar and slams her sword into Hector's shoulder.

"Hector being daft." Lyn sniffs. "Pay him no mind."

"That girl is impressive." Louise, Pent's wife and the blond lady, observes. Akatsuki slaps Hector in the face with her sword. Hector tries to do the same, but can't quite catch her.

"Yeah." Farina agrees. "She hasn't dodged a single hit yet."

Eliwood frowns and, after a little more observation, agrees. Akatsuki, a small girl who's maybe a third of Hector's weight, has been taking each and every single one of Hector's full strength swings and tanking them like a champ. Hell, after the first few hits she's no longer even being staggered by them, and her retaliatory swings have been, judging by Hector's occasional steps back, more than effective.

The two of them trade a few more blows before a loud snap is heard. Akatsuki's little sword had shattered itself upon Hector's training axe and took the axe with it. Hector, now caught up in the moment, throws a punch.

"Dear me. Hector, are you serious…" Lyn sighs into her palms as Hector gets into a full-on fistfight with a little girl. His fists, it should be noted, are about as wide as her face.

"For what it's worth, he seems to be losing." Farina observes after a few punches have been traded.

On the other side, the Phoenix people were watching and waiting as well.

"Maybe we should stop them now?" Inazuma asks Hibiki worriedly.

Hibiki…didn't seem as bothered. "I'm curious as to how this will end." She says. "Besides, keep an eye on that large man's party. They seem to have connections to Count Reglay, so they're likely potential allies." She totters off to get the picnic basket she had prepared for lunch.

"If you say so…" Inazuma flinches as Akatsuki both takes and delivers a particularly savage-sounding pair of punches. "Why is she so fired up today? I mean, yeah, she's got a button for people calling her a child, but…"

"She's just working off some stress." Hibiki takes a drink from her basket and offers it to Inazuma. "It's been a tough few days, no?"

"I mean…" Inazuma is still a bit confused. "Yeah, but…"

The reality of the situation was that Akatsuki, who's more or less had to do her job with one hand tied constantly behind her back, finally found somebody who's willing to actually scuffle with her at her full strength. In other words: she was angry at being called a child, but she's now just having fun.

That fun abruptly ends when Hector lands a full-strength haymaker on the side of her head. Most of the blow's strength gets diverted by Akatsuki's passive shields, but it still knocks her off her feet and onto her back.

"Cripes." Hector shakes off the pain in his hand, not quite catching onto the fact that he just slugged a girl on the face (again, his fist is the size of her head) at full strength. "You're really tough, you know that?" He says, half-irritated, half-praising.

"YOU SLUGGED HER IN THE FACE?!" Lyn yells, aghast. "HECTOR, WHY?!"

"What?!" Hector…finally gets why she was worried. "She started it! Besides, she's tough and can take it no problem!" He says, frantically justifying his slugging of a small, harmless-looking girl.

"We have a daughter at home." Farina adds just to complicate the situation further.

"I'm a great dad." Hector snaps back. "Ask anybody."

"Ow." Akatsuki sits up. "Ok, that one really hurt." She channels her magical power through a healing orb and patches herself back up. "Not just any mercenary, are you?" She hops to her feet.

At this point Ash finally arrives.

"Huh." He looks at Eliwood's party, at the dirtied Hector and Akatsuki, and then at the Phoenix party. "Ok, what happened here?" He says after giving a small sigh.

"He's a douche." Akatsuki accuses Hector immediately, using magic to create a purple, nasty-looking bruise on her face…but on the wrong side.

"Am not." Hector replies, equally immediately. He didn't know what the word meant but figured it could mean nothing good.

"Are too." Akatsuki…gets into another fight. "You punched me."

"You started it!" Hector goes down to her level. The two glare at each other. Farina walks over to Hector and gives a loving pat on her husband's arm, before giving him a wake-up smack with the back of her hand.

"Before this devolves further." Ash says overly loudly. "Akatsuki, come with me."

"Fiiine." Akatsuki sulks and removes the bruise.

"You." Ash says to Hector. "Come with me as well. Bring your entire party too, while you're at it." He then sees Pent. "Hey Pent." He waves.

"Hello, Ash." Pent bows politely. "I somewhat wish this meeting had a more pleasant start." He says with a laugh.

"You know him?" Eliwood asks Pent.

"All of you. With me. Now." Ash orders before Pent could reply.

…

The group takes a walk through Traesto's bustling main street.

"Wow." Eliwood says as they stroll through the town. "This place is incredible." His eyes take in every last bit of the stalls lining the streets and the people wandering through them. "Was this place really attacked by Morphs?" He asks Pent. "There's no sense of danger anywhere on the street."

"You can thank the culture here for that." Pent says as they walk through the festival-like town. "Among other things." He glances up, noting the faint shimmer that marked the existence of a Pegasus Knight cloaked from view.

Eliwood watches the small figure of Akatsuki accompanying Ash in front of him. "Indeed."

The party clears the town area fairly quickly thanks to its wide main street, and Eliwood's party is then treated to the impressive sight of the Neverland at dock.

"Whoa." Eliwood says, wide-eyed. "So the rumors were true."

Ash leads the group to the main administration building and picks a sizable meeting room (plus attached lounge) to occupy. "Now then." He begins as the fourteen people—minus him—settle in. "Introduce yourselves."

Eliwood sees no reason to lie, given that Pent seemed to trust and respect this man. "I am Count Eliwood of Pharae, a small state in the Lycian League." He bows slightly then gestures to the two 'civilians', as Akatsuki classed them. "This is my wife, Ninian, and her brother, Nils."

"How do you do." Ninian greets politely, but faintly. Nils merely nods in greeting.

 _They're very pretty._ Akatuski notes in her head. _Are they dancers?_

"I am Lord Eliwood's bodyguard for this mission." The green-haired knight standing at attention says next. "I am Lowen, Knight-Captain of Pharae." He takes a step back as Ash acknowledges his presence. Given that Ash allowed him to keep his sword, Lowen was thus not too worried about security, and his mind drifted to the present that he should get for his wife before he leaves.

"I'm Lyn-dis." Lyn says, tripping over her name slightly as she reconsiders how formal she wanted to be. "I'm the Countess of Caelin." She kind of ends up in the middle and looks to the rest of her party for help.

 _She's really pretty._ Akatsuki notes in her head. _And that outfit is nice, too._

"I'm her consort, Kent." The red knight salutes. "This is Caelin's Archer Commander and my subordinate, Will."

"How do you do." Will nods, not really used to formal protocol.

The party then looks at the shy Pegasus knight trying to hide behind a potted plant.

"Florina." The knight introduces herself in a barely-audible tone.

Ash rolls his eyes.

"And I'm Hector, the Marquis of Ostia." Hector says, thumping his chest for emphasis. "Ostia's the head of the Lycian League, so you know."

"I'm his ever-so-troubled wife, Farina." Farina says with a giggle then musses with the healer's bright pink-red hair. "And this pretending-to-be-shy-lass, is Serra."

"Oh, come on." Serra huffs. "You just got here and there was a fight." She turns to Ash. "I'm Serra." She says in a sweet tone. "As you can see, I'm a cleric."

"Pleased to meet all of you." Ash nods, then gives Akatsuki a small pat on the back.

"I'm Captain Akatsuki." She introduces herself a bit stiffly. "I head the Phoenix's Elite Stars unit."

"And you are…?" Eliwood prompts Ash after a moment of silence.

"A second." Ash says first. "Hector, was it?" He says. "Have your stealthy friend come out in the open."

The moment of silence turns uncomfortable, before Hector's stealthy friend steps through the doorway. "The name's Matthew." The orange-haired thief says. "Sorry about that."

Ash waves it away. "I'm Ash, the Emperor of the Phoenix Empire." He says, "Pleased to make your acquaintance." Ash is, we should note, not physically imposing.

"It's an honor to be in your presence." Eliwood says formally, taking his words as true.

"You're pretty small to be an emperor." Hector says gruffly, not believing a second of it.

Ash laughs. "I get that a lot. So, before we begin…" Ash takes out a large, tube-like thing and removes two rough-looking gems from it. "Nils and Ninian."

"Yes?" Ninian says, still sounding a bit faint. She puts a hand on Eliwood's arm for stability and receives a reassuring squeeze from his hands.

Ash grins. "The two of you are Manaketes, right?"

The two of them turn pale.

Hector (very overtly) draws Lowen's sword. "How do you know about that?" He demands.

"Hector!" Eliwood chides sharply as Akatsuki responds to his action by pulling out her rifle.

"Sorry." Hector says after a moment and returns Lowen's sword. He realizes, a bit too late, that his knee-jerk reaction put Eliwood at a diplomatic disadvantage.

"What lead you to that conclusion?" Eliwood asks Ash.

"Well." Ash's grin grows wider, and his eyes flare suddenly.

Everyone in the room suddenly feels as if the unassuming young man before them was suddenly replaced by…something so inexplicably huge that they could not comprehend. The feeling passes as quickly as it appears.

Hector has Lowen's sword in his hand again.

"No way…" Ninian breathes, panting slightly. "…You're a true dragon?"

"A little from column A, little from column B." Ash shrugs. "It's better to just consider me a Manakete as well."

"Wait wait, what's a Manakete?" Serra asks.

"In a nutshell, they can turn into a dragon." Akatsuki answers her.

"No way!" Serra stares at Nils with astonishment. "You can turn into a dragon?! That's so _cool_!"

Nils smiles sheepishly in response. "Yes, well…"

"My point is, judging by the auras the two of you are projecting you guys aren't exactly in the best physical condition." Ash says, rerailing the conversation. "So, these are for you." He holds out the two stones. "A gift, no strings attached."

Eliwood, no stranger to politics, is fully aware that Ash's gift is basically a trap despite what he said. They can refuse and be kicked out, or accept and be indebted. _At the very least he doesn't seem to be hostile._ Eliwood sighs mentally.

"What…um…" Ninian looks to Eliwood, who nods his assent. "I…thank you."

She and Nils take one stone each. Both of them then immediately blink in surprise at the strength that seemed to be returning to their bodies.

"This is…a dragonstone?" Nils asks in shock. "Where did you get this?"

Ash's reply is a very matter-of-fact "We make them."

"So…" Hector is a bit lost.

"Nils and Ninian are Manaketes who…" Ash stares at them for a few seconds. "…who never formed perfect stones, by the looks of it? I'm guessing the two of you have been suffering so far."

Nils and Ninian were forcibly taken from their world and had their strength more or less stolen from them upon their entry. Without having the time to properly stabilize, their magical powers were leeching into the air in a form of magical equilibrium. Since they have a higher resting power need than normal humans, the siblings were basically slowly starving to death.

"I had prepared myself for it." Nils says matter-of-factly. "A manufactured Dragonstone, huh…?" He turns the rough-looking gem around in his hand.

"What…what does this mean?" Eliwood stares at Ash. "Who are you? What are you?"

"Chill." Ash grins. "I'm a friend. Now, these stones won't let you transform and since you can't channel with them you can't fight with them, but your strength should now be preserved for a bit longer…to about the lifespan of a normal human, maybe a little extra." He turns to Eliwood. "It means you can have more time with your wife."

"Like they need it." Farina mutters out of reflex.

"Yes…thank you very much." Ninian stands just to bow deeply. "I cannot give voice to my gratitude." She adds with a little shame.

"Hey, no biggie." Ash says cheerily. "Now then, what are you guys here for?"

…

[Exposition]

…

"I see." Ash strokes his chin after Eliwood recounts his story of dealing with Nergal four years ago (a story that Ash knew in broad strokes already because he's played that game before). "That must've been tough."

"You don't know the half of it." Hector laughs. "I had to run around in Nabata in my heavy armor; that wasn't fun."

"We did manage to meet Pent there." Lyn adds.

"So…yes, we're ready to help against Nergal." Eliwood summarizes. "With everything we have."

"Thank you, but no." Ash responds with surprising finality. "No offense, but if you guys interjected yourself into our battle plan right now, you would be of no help, even with your 'legendary weapons'."

"How so?" Hector asks. "I'm as good as your Captain there, and we're all experienced fighters." He says, but gives Eliwood a worried glance. Eliwood has been showing the early signs of a disease that didn't seem to be going away, and it negatively affected his skill and power.

"All minus three." Ash says, not catching Hector's glance but knew anyway because he's played Fire Emblem 6. "Nils and Ninian don't strike me as fighters, and Eliwood's sick, no?"

"You are?" Everybody who's not Hector and Ninian asks in shock. Eliwood nods after a moment of consideration.

"How can you tell?" Hector growls at Ash.

"He just can." Akatsuki says. "It's best not to question it."

"I have…been feeling a bit under the weather." Eliwood says. "But I assure you it does not affect my ability to wage war." He adds firmly.

Ash nods. "No doubt…but that's not really the point here. We have our way of doing things, and our strike timetable is fast to the point where you guys… _really_ have no business being included."

"You never know." Hector counters. "We're instrumental in stopping Nergal four years ago."

"I don't doubt it." Ash says. "But it looks like you need proof before you believe me." He stands. "Come on, I'll show you."

Eliwood is confused. "Proof?"

Ash grins again. "Yeah, proof of why we have this problem covered."

…

…

"Good lord." Hector breathes as Ash leads them to the reason why the Phoenix is pretty ok against Nergal. He notes, even while marveling, that the workers in the area all stop the instant Ash comes in to give him a salute. _So he is an actual Emperor._ He thinks before his attention is entirely captured by the object in front of him.

"At ease." Ash returns the salute. "So, what do you think?" He asks the party.

"What is this thing?!" Lyn demands. "It's way too big!"

"You like it?" Ash grins.

"I'm not sure what it's supposed to be, but it's certainly impressive." Eliwood nods. "Who is it for?"

"Me." Nino waves from behind the object in question. "It's going through the final adjustments for fitting." Eliwood thinks he recognizes this person, but given that they met four years ago for the better part of a few hours, his memory was drawing a blank.

"How's that going?" Ash asks.

A mechanic takes that question. "Just fine. Power source is a little unstable, but it doesn't affect motion. Worst case scenario she'll just move a little slower."

"I want one." Hector drools. Farina nods in rapid agreement.

The object in question is a twelve-foot high suit of power armor, standing within a magically maintained low gravity field and connected to bundles and bundles of wires. Eliwood feels the sense of military supremacy the armor exudes, and shudders despite the room's warmth.

"Its two tons of solid steel with the latest electronics we can make." The chief engineer says proudly. "If you didn't want a set then I'd be upset."

"Dear god." Eliwood breathes. "What does it take to make one of these?"

"More than you think, less than you expect." The engineer smirks.

"What are those?" Lyn asks of a rack of strange tubes being held in an adjacent room. "Weapons?"

"Aye." The Chief engineer grins. "I don't know who this 'Nergal' dickhead thinks he is, but he's not going to see this coming."

[Power Armor][Ash's POV]

This PA we're building for Nino is classed as the HPA-X (read as: High-Pax) and is the prototype for the armor that will eventually serve the primary equipment of the Phoenix Heavy Infantry. From a form standpoint, it resembles a bit of a cross between an MS-06 Zaku from the Gundam franchise, and a…loose…interpretation, of the Space Marine Armor from the Warhammer franchise. The helmet has the Zaku glowing mono-eye camera, the shoulders are spiked, because of course it is, and the rest of the body is plated to heaven and back. There are multiple hardpoints on its body designed for gear, so the armor's…pilot? Wearer? Would be free to use their hands like normal humans, while packing enough weapons and firepower to be kinda, sorta, totally bullshit.

The armor is obviously bigger than Nino who, despite being almost 20, is still a pretty small woman. The arm and legs have spring-loaded, magically lubricated pedals and braces that adjust for her body size and complement her physical strength accordingly, so she can both move the armor with fluidity…and punch people so hard their skulls would fly out of their heads. She's not going to actually _do_ that, because Nino is a nice person, but the option is there. Apart from its sheer bulk, the suit's biggest plus is its integrated booster system, which allows her to skate over ground and charge at galloping speed, which isn't going to help Nino per se, but is integral to the fact that mass-production models of this armor will be deployed in formations.

Defense-wise, the power armor is thick and hefty, with a few spell circles running through the entire body of the armor. These circles redirect and absorb large chunks of physical and magical force. Within the context of the Fire Emblem universe, this means that the armor is literally immortal. I've had the armor readied and placed in the middle of a Thor barrage for testing, and it takes about a minute of concentrated fire before the armor's first layer starts to buckle. Without the spell circles (so if it gets magically-silenced or something) the armor is still movable through batteries charged with 'normal' electricity through spinning magical turbines, so it gets about five minutes of reduced effectiveness before it shuts down entirely.

I love my redundancy, so of course it's tough to destroy even with magic. This prototype is a full million gold to deploy, mind you, so they don't come cheap (yet), even when we're finding shortcuts by using proto-industrial-grade tools that have been enchanted for efficiency.

 _If we were to translate the suit to the game, it would be like if you equip it on a character and then they start the map having an additional 25,000 hit points and only take 1 damage from every attack aimed their way. And it's Eclipse (half target hp) immune, and it auto-crits on every attack that hits._

So defensively it's kind of a beast. Offensively, the PA has four pieces of gear we're fielding. While the completed version of the armor would have integrated weapons, this HPA-X lacks those weapons because I wanted the engineers to focus on getting the defensive properties right first.

Anyways, weapons. We have four of them, and they come mounted on a secondary piece of gear (because they're currently too big for the hardpoints).

First is the Thor Battery. As the name implies, it's just a set of ten Thor anti-materiel cannons cobbled together. Because the Thor is a tried and true piece of Phoenix hardware, this weapon serves as a weapon of last resort, if everything else breaks. Its condenser/reloader has, again, been improved, and the Thors in the Battery are angled to focus their shots on one place at a range of a hundred meters, _and_ they have an actual targeting computer (albeit a very simple one) that connects to the computer inside the armor. It's still pretty prototype-y so the computers do very little, but…yeah.

Second weapon is the Impact Stake. It's basically a ten-foot steel pole that gets shot forward and deals massive damage at close range. Low tech, high reliability, and can punch through castle masonry with no issue. This is the melee weapon in the event that Nino, y'know, comes face to face with an animated haunted castle, or if there's like twenty Morphs standing in a convenient line or whatever.

Third weapon is the Shard Cannon. This is the test bed for our prototype high-performance reloader/condenser arrays, and is by far the most fragile of the weapons being deployed. Because this weapon focuses on the effectiveness of the condenser/reloader array, the bullets that the array makes are of a consequentially low quality…they have a tendency to just evaporate with a minimum range of about twenty feet, and the accuracy of the cannon is terrible.

The tradeoff, of course, is that it's the first gun we have with a 4000 round per minute fire rate.

So…yes, it's a shitty gun, but it's a shitty gun that can vomit near-infinite ammo into a target area. The condenser can make around 3000 rounds per minute with a ten thousand round magazine, so the gun THEORETICALLY can saturate an area nonstop for ten minutes before it needs to stop and reload.

The final weapon is kind of the antithesis of the Shard Cannon, and I dub it the Buster Rifle. If the Shard Cannon's job is to put a lot of low-power bullets haphazardly on the field, then the rifle's job is to put a single-high powered round exactly where it needs to be. It…well, the "high-powered" part is about true. IN THEORY, each shot has an impact radius of about three hundred meters, and everything inside the hit area gets bombarded by the magical power (and shards) that gets concentrated into a single shell, and they get dead. In order to both make and control the high powered rounds, each round must be stored and concentrated into casing, like a traditional earth artillery shell.

So…yeah, I'm confident about our ability to maul the fuck out of the Morphs, and I'm confident about Nino's ability to make good use of the HPA-X on its first deployment…even though she has, like, maybe twenty minutes of experience with it _at most_.

 _So what would happen if she were, say, to lose the fight?_

Uh…then that's too bad? I mean, if I'm blowing a million gold on the project and it fails while being spearheaded by the most experienced mage in the Phoenix Empire, then there's something fundamentally wrong with the entire thing.

…

[3rd Person Camera]

…

"Wow." Lyn whistles after hearing the chief engineer's explanation. "I don't really get it, but they sound well-made."

"One million gold…" Eliwood whispers faintly. "This single piece of armor costs as much as an entire army."

"It's not just the armor, but yes." The chief engineer agrees with a shrug. "Though in this case the Colonel could hammer that army with this armor easy."

"Are those wings?" Hector asks excitedly, looking to the room on the opposite side of the room containing the weapons.

"That? That's the Lifter." The Chief Engineer grins wide. "It'll get the High-Pax where it needs to go."

The Lifter is a set of massive, technically foldable wings/engine suite, with four blocky squares that doesn't represent any propulsion system that the three lords were used to…not that they've seen much of industrialized propulsion anyways. 'Technically' because once set and unfolded, the wings would need an engineering team to fold again. The four blocks are basically arrays of magic-based jet engines, where they use magical shielding to both reduce drag and to channel air for power, the end process being an array of engines that have thrust-to-weight ratios way higher than normal.

 _Magic: it is cheating._

"And Nino will be inside that?" Lyn raises an eyebrow after doing some quick mental guessing. "I don't think even Hector is strong enough to move it."

"Good point." Hector rounds on the chief engineer. "How does this thing move?"

"That, unfortunately, is a trade secret." The Chief says apologetically. "Can't be telling you everything, I'm afraid."

"When do you depart, Nino?" Eliwood asks, seeing the end of that conversation path.

"As soon as the adjustments are over, which I hope they will be soon." Nino says with a glance at the chief.

The chief shrugs. "We got an hour left of basic tests, two for fitting the Lifter and synchronizing that, and then another two to make sure Colonel Nino over there knows how to use the thing."

"Four hours just to equip a piece of armor?" Hector's wide eyed.

The chief laughs. "Hey, it's damn good armor, and it's her first time wearing it. If she hasn't been studying the manual like it's the holy word it'd take a _hell_ lot longer."

"She had that thing for like a day, so, y'know." Ash adds. "Keep your expectations in check."

…

[A Little Longer Later]

…

Eliwood's party watch as the winged armor walk itself onto a catapult installed within the base's premises. Technically the base doesn't need a catapult—it just needs to have long enough runways—but the engineers and physicists unanimously voted that it would be cool to have one, so they built one.

Inside the armor, Nino dutifully reads a list of numbers from a small display projected onto the screen in front of her and squirms in joy at the pretty colors zooming in front of her face.

"Ok, everything checks out." The Chief says after Nino finishes reading off the last batch of values. "How does it feel, Colonel?" He asks.

"I'm still not really used to this." Nino admits, moving her arms a little and feeling the resistance offered by the suit's magic-hydraulics.

"We've adjusted it so you can move according to how you usually do, but your sense of balance will likely be off due to the differences in body size." The Chief notes. "We'll be monitoring things from here, and I'm sure you know without me reminding you, but don't get into a situation where you'll need to match an enemy's mobility."

"I know, thank you." Nino says graciously. "How's the cat's charge?"

"Ready to go at any time." The Chief says. "I'm handing you off to the tower…this is really risky, you know that?"

"I know, but I'm not in the mood to take the slow way around." Nino says readily.

"If you say so." The Chief says, scratching his head. "Tower, she's all yours."

"Roger that." The operator aboard the Neverland, acting as tower control more or less on her spare time, says. "Colonel Reed, this is Tower, you're on standby for deployment for Operation 'Fuck Nergal'." She stops. "Boss, can we get a less obvious mission name?"

"No." Ash replies cheerily and instantly, drawing a sigh from the operator. "Nino, you know this already, but the Lifter can be controlled through your screen with small pulses of magic. You'll survive if you plow into the ground, but please don't do that."

"I know. I'm going to circle over the target when I get there." Nino says, practicing controlling the lifter with small bolts of magical power. On the outside, the observers could see the flaps on the Lifter's wings move up and down in response. "How many shots do I get with the Rifle?"

"Three." Ash reminds her. "Four, and you're not flying back."

"That would suck." Nino nods. "Alright, I'm ready to go."

Eliwood frowns. "I understand that I have no say in this, but sending her alone, regardless of equipment, is a dangerous endeavor. The Dread Isle should not be underestimated."

"You're telling me." Ash sighs. "But she wants to go and nothing we have will be able to keep up. Besides, I don't know if Nergal has anything planned now that he knows we've upset the power balance in the region, and I'm not too keen on finding out."

"So you think he's planning to call dragons?" Hector asks.

"I would know if he did, but yes." Ash shrugs. "Fortunately, the armor's not going to budge just because of a few measly dragons."

"A few?" Lyn repeats. "Seriously?"

"Colonel Reed, you're cleared for takeoff." The operator says as Ash gets into dragon-killing speculation.

Nino crouches as she's told and hears the catapult underneath her roar to life. With cackling electricity the platform she's standing on accelerates towards the ocean, and shoots her at a small angle into the air. As soon as she receives the "free flight" warning on her screen, she sends a small jolt of power to the Lifter's controls, and the four massive engines unfurl and come to life.

The massive flying armor, with a giant, fixed wing at its shoulders, roar with an ungodly force and climbs into the air. Upon hitting the altitude as denoted by her flashy screen, Nino levels off her climb and circles over the ocean to get used to flying with the armor. When she's comfortable about the controls, she aims herself towards the Dread Isle and kicks her engines into full gear. The resulting shockwave of her departure shatters a few windows.

"Ok, lesson learned." The Chief Mechanic says with a wince. "Lifters can break the sound barrier. Got it."

…

Though Nino had the good instinct to pull up and hide above the clouds, much of Bern and Lycia found themselves scratching their heads on this day. There was a strange roar above them, and they did not know what it was.

Nino, in her sound-dampened armor, did not really think that the low roar was a big deal. She was too focused on how quickly she was covering around. At her speed, she'd reach the Dragon's Gate from the other side of Bern in three hours or so.

Nino very quickly saw a problem in this. "I have to stay like this for three hours?" She asks nobody in particular.

Ultimately, Nino did stay cooped up in the armor for a little under four hours…which was not as bad as it sounded, because she amused herself by watching the clouds pass by, and by flying into them whenever she felt like it.

At the end of the four hours, the cloud cover below her cleared to show an island sitting alone in the ocean. "That must be it." Nino muses. She toggles the suit's Maydar and scans it for threats. "…Wow."

The island was positively crawling with Morph signals, but as Morphs don't radiate the same kind of magic signatures as normal humans, Nino had no read on how strong the army was quality-wise. "Maybe…a thousand of them?" She mutters. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do about the lesser Morphs, so…" She carefully prunes her map of targets until she comes across a signal that could belong to a living being.

The signal was muted since it came from within a massive stone installation that was easily visible even from her current height. Also, it didn't feel entirely human…which, given the Maydar, meant it was now unmissable.

Nino's face spreads into a predatory smile in anticipation, and she drops to circle five thousand feet above the ruins. She undocks the Buster Rifle from its hardpoint on the Lifter, taking care not to overextend it past the length of its thick, rubbery cable.

 _Spirit Liqueur (Spirit Dust + Water) is fed through the tube and acts as the power source of the gun._

"Ok." Nino flips her long range radio. "This is Skywind, I'm in position and engaging." She reports. The long range radio, a magical tool, bundles her message into a magical packet, orients it towards Traesto, and sends it flying on its way.

Of course, this power causes Nergal, nesting in the ruins beneath her, to pay attention…not that it mattered at this point.

Nino dives down towards the ruins, aiming herself along with the Buster Rifle towards the entrance of the massive stone installation. She notes the swarm of Morphs gathering at the gates, marvels slightly at the bright-red cross thingy before her eyes, and pulls the trigger.

Because the Rifle hasn't really been properly calibrated, the first shot goes wild and hits a good fifty meters away from where Nino had aimed. The resulting explosion engulfs the strike area anyway and tears through the Morphs with a blast of concentrated fire.

Nino pulls on the loader mechanism and her Rifle ejects its spent shell with a hiss. She loads her second round and, fearing a collision with the ground, pulls up some so she can circle around and eventually enter the installation through the front door.

"Oh are you kidding me." She grumbles as she turns and faces the still closed door. "Fiiine." She takes the time to circle around again and aims her Rifle at the sealed stone door, ignoring the Morphs that were now taking into the skies to intercept her.

Nergal, who felt the first rifle hit as a shudder that ran through the building, could not help but pause his work on the Dragon's Gate to find out exactly what the hell is going on outside.

He was just about to open the massive stone doors that lead to his inner sanctum before a feeling of dread stopped him.

Suddenly, those doors before him bent inwards with a great clash of stone on stone.

"About time." Nino growls. Her second hit had struck home, and the massive stone doors that lead into the installation were sent flying deeper into the structure. Given the sound that came a few seconds later, she deduces that they hit some wall or whatever deeper in.

Regardless, she now has her entry point, and the Morphs were closing in. Nino, making yet one more circling turn, unhooks and aims her Shard Cannon haphazardly towards the incoming Morphs and press the trigger.

With a ghost-like howl, the cannon's torrent of bullets scatter everywhere and tear through the sky, raking the incoming Morph units with firepower and tearing them all to ribbons. Nino has a brief moment of being drunk with power, and cackles madly.

Almost too soon, the cannon stops firing. Nino, coming down from her high from the sound of the wailing ghost, realizes that the gun had drastically overheated, warped, and was reporting a multitude of malfunctions on her screen. Nino, with a sigh, hooks it back onto the Lifter's hardpoint and readies her Rifle. She aims it deep into the installation.

Nergal, who had wisely retreated backwards the moment his inner sanctum doors bent, saw those solid stone doors—doors tough enough to slow a dragon—shatter with amazing force. He gives himself a mental pat on the back for moving sideways from the door, as he observes pieces of the door shoot deep into his inner sanctum and up the staircase into the Dragon's Gate.

Nergal, who's not exactly happy about getting his things torn up like this, readies a charge of his Erkreshkigal and unleashes it into the darkness, out of his base.

Nino, who had fired and then pulled back up because she didn't feel like slamming into a stone wall, saw the blast of dark energy exit the stone installation like a puff of smoke.

"Well, I made my three shots." She mutters, hooks her Rifle back up, and readies the Thor Battery. She also flips a switch for a radio. "Traesto, this is Skywind. I'm going in."

"Home copies." Ash, boosting the magic-powered radio so it could reach this kind of distance in the first place, replies. "The armor's tough, but be careful all the same."

"Right." Nino makes her final approach to the doorless hole leading deeper into the installation, fires a few rounds from the Thor Battery, and detaches the Lifter, as it was too wide to fly into the building and the wings on the Lifter don't fold. The Lifter zips upwards and, with its own on-board computer, picks an altitude, hits it, and then circles slowly in the sky.

Nergal heard something zip by into his room and strike the staircase, and saw, to his great surprise, the supple stone staircase crater in six different areas, as if hit by a vengeful god.

Nino kicks her armored wind shoes into high gear and zip deep into the installation. She meets zero resistance, to her disappointment, and zooms through the installation's inner depths until she comes across a massive staircase.

Nergal, not really expecting this giant suit of armor to just _appear_ out of nowhere, reflexively shot at it with an unformed bolt of magic.

Nino's armor beeps upon detecting magic flying towards it, and the spikes on the shoulder plates glow. Like little lightning rods, they redirect the magic towards them, draw in what they could, and let the rest of the spell bleed off into the darkness.

"Who are you?!" Nergal demands as he stands slowly. "What are you?!"

Nino aims her Impact Stake at him. "I am Nino Reed." She says coldly. "No need to remember it."

…

[Two Days Later]

…

The intruder team sent to the Dragon's Gate, comprised of Eliwood's party of twelve, Stars, and the Black Fang, arrive at the Dread Isle after two days of preparation and one more of actual sailing.

"My goodness those ships are fast." Hector had noted as they landed. "From Bern to here in no more than half a day?"

Phoenix Elibean Task Force, comprised of the Cruiser Neverland and its two new Destroyer escorts, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, delivered the strike team to their destination. They then proceeded to mow down every visible target from the shoreline with their powerful cannons, allowing the team to proceed deeper into the island without issue.

It would be slightly tough going, as the Morphs, though masterless, still had their mission of defending the island with their lives. Ultimately, the Morphs numbered about two hundred, and every last one of them threw themselves at the task force of barely twenty.

"WHY ME?!" Akatsuki had screamed when she realized the kind of running battle that she was being forced into.

"Ah, quit the whining." Was Hector's reply. "Just be glad we're not fighting all of them at once."

Since the Stars were being deployed alongside foreign nobles, Ash had compromised between his desire to make allies with the heroes of Fire Emblem 7 and the realities of an invasion-type attack, where the Stars could potentially end up shooting the lords by accident.

Ergo, the Stars went into battle with no guns, but additional armor (spares from the HPA-X project) and giant chainswords, because the Phoenix Empire literally has those things just lying around in warehouses.

"It'd be so much better to just fight them all at once." Akatsuki groused. "Fuck this 'chase and kill' bullshit." Her image of being a prim and proper lady tended to fall by the wayside when she's angry.

Hector could only shake his head. "Did you not sleep well or something? Jeez."

Banter aside, they fared pretty well. The fact that the Phoenix Empire underwrote the entire expedition and outfitted everybody with the best gear money could buy greatly helped.

Ultimately, the group fought their way to the Dragon's Gate, where they found the slowly desiccating corpse of Nergal pinned to the stone wall by a massive stake of solid steel.

"I guess this was a little hard to clean up." Akatsuki had observed. "Well, whatever. Target confirmed destroyed. Boss, how's the gate itself?"

Athos teleported in around a minute after the fighting ended. Akatsuki had come within a hair's breadth of shanking the old man on the spot when she realized that he could have teleported in at, y'know, any other time. He took Ash with him to the Gate.

"It's alive, but it hasn't really been used." Ash said. "Good enough, I suppose. Alright, let's get to it."

By 'get to it', Ash meant that he was going to follow through on Nino's idea. Namely, the Phoenix was going to annex the Dread Isle, take control of the Dragon's Gate, and use it to expand their market into the world that the dragons had escaped to.

To quote the (faux)teary Ash when Nino had brought it up: "My little capitalist is all grown up."

So that's what they're going to do. With a little effort (read: offshore bombardment) the original stone structure was torn down in favor of a more open-air approach to the gate itself, because, as Ash put it, "it looks friendlier this way."

…

And with that, Nino's homecoming has officially ended, with Nergal being downgraded from "a threat that could have menaced all of Elibe" to "basically a dude with a god complex" that got in the way of greater profits.

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

Overwhelming power being exercised effectively makes for a boring finish, no?

[The "Where Are They Now" Segment at the end of every Fire Emblem Game]

Nino, Grandmaster of Elibe/Jaffar, Guardian Reaper: Nino continued to serve as the Phoenix's head of operations in Elibe. She would raise a family with Jaffar (much to his confusion) and, together, live a happy and fulfilling life.

Linus, Mad Dog/Hibiki, Snow of Stars: The two got along well, and eventually married. Linus, never one to enjoy staying still, allowed himself to be carried along with Hibiki's missions, and the two travelled the globe as the Phoenix's operatives.

Inazuma, Caretaker: She served as Nino's second-in-command and was beloved by the people for her gentle demeanor and lordly patience. She eventually fell in love and retired from service to be with her future husband.

Akatsuki, Star Empress: As the new head of Stars, Akatsuki never found the time to settle down…but she did find the time to be wed. Despite having a family, she would still travel the world as the figurehead of the Phoenix's most elite, and most venerable, branch of military service. She would also occasionally travel back to Elibe to share a drink or two with some new best friends.

Ikatsuchi, Lady Not Appearing in This Story: She marries Morgan (the male one from the future) and the two have fun somewhere else. She's only being included here because she's also a member of Stars.

Lloyd, White Fang: Instated as the Phoenix's Elibean branch of intelligence, Lloyd had great joy in watching the family that he knew and loved come back together. He would, despite his own misgivings, be married as well. Supposedly, the once-feared assassin would be the most doting of fathers.

Ursula, Blue Crow: Her lust for power unstated, she joins the Phoenix as a proper mage and travels the world with Akatsuki, endlessly devouring new views on magic and new lessons on its uses. She would, in time, become the most respected instructor of new mages within the Phoenix Empire.

.

[The Stinger?]

.

Historians would agree that the Phoenix Empire's expansion into Elibe wrote a new chapter in the continent's history, and forever changed the course of its fate. Headed by a trio of true dragons, many books would be written about the effects of the Phoenix Empire upon Prince Zephiel, and the way its fame shaped the path of Bern years later.


End file.
